Annie Come Home
by Divine Saiyan Psyagon
Summary: Annie seemed to die when Clayface absorbed her, gone forever. But what if she wasn't really gone? What if she had merely been suppressed by the Clay monster? An AU Story where a different future comes to pass for young Master Timothy and the girl.
1. Chapter 1 Lingering Memories

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

(A/N: This takes place about a year after the events that happened in the Batman Episode "Growing Pains". Later after seeing the final fate of Matt Hagen in the Justice League series, I felt that was a terrible way to end the legacy of Clayface in the DCAU, Matt just being crated up, and poor Annie never getting a chance to live. So I decided to create this story, a strongly romance oriented story, but as those who know me have seen, I hate to leave action out of the game, so there will definitely be some in here. Without further ado, I give you one of my famous AU stories that more suits my tastes, "Annie Come Home")

**Chapter 1: Lingering Memories**

**Tim Drake/Robin**

A year; it had been a long one, a year since I joined Batman in his crusade on crime. A year since I had gained a home and gone back in school. A year…since I met her; Annie.

As I sat in my room, my thoughts drifted back to when we'd first seen each other. I'd been swinging across the rooftops that night when I saw the girl being harassed by biker thugs. Normally I didn't notice fine details when rescuing girls, but this one wasn't like others. For one, she was beautiful; incredibly soft features attenuated her slender frame, a heart melting cute face, and the clothes…well the clothes were a bit much though, but she didn't act like a skank. She was lost, lonely, and terrified. The sickos circling her had _those_ ideas in their heads though, so I knew I had to do something. I called them out and kicked their collective butts hard. But after saving the girl, she ran from me. As she fled with fear and worry in every step, I felt weird, like a part of me had begun to run away with her. I didn't like that, I knew I had to help her in any way I could. So I decided to pursue her.

Hours of searching had led me nowhere, but then she came to me, and after showing her how devoted I was to helping her, she thanked me, with a kiss! My face nearly melted when that happened, fighting the furious blush, I managed to help her find out what she remembered, leading us to a seaside chemical plant. That's where we found the criminal who'd recently done a string of robberies was actually Clayface. He kept saying he was Annie's father.

After he began chasing us, I quickly learned who Annie really was; she was actually the "daughter" of the monster Clayface. She soon met her demise at the hands of her father Clayface, who absorbed her into himself just before we apprehended the rotten mud sack. In the end, she had sacrificed herself for me, so I could escape; she had proven she wasn't Clayface at all, she really was Annie.

Since that day I've never been able to get my mind off her; I'd seen the whole thing with my own eyes, her becoming a part of Clayface, but I couldn't believe she was really gone, a part of me told me she wasn't, that she was still in him somewhere.

What could I do though? Clayface was currently in Maximum Security Lockdown for Meta Humans at Arkham Asylum. Unless he broke out, there was no chance that she could ever come back.

With a solemn stern face, I decided it was time to end the lamenting for now and get to being Robin for my night shift with Batman. As I raced down to the bat cave, one thought never left my head as I held to it like the most precious thing in the world; Annie…I hope I see you again some day.


	2. Chapter 2 Freed From The Monster

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

**Chapter 2: Freed From The Monster**

**Annie**

Dark…so dark, I couldn't see, I couldn't hear, I couldn't smell. All I can do is think, and even that is slipping away. That has been my fate since I was reabsorbed by my "father". He took me away from Robin, the boy who had tried his best to help me, even though I'd never done anything for him. Clayface was now inside Arkham Asylum and under total lock down. I had lost track of time, and for all I knew, it may have been centuries since I walked the streets freely, since I met Robin.

Robin…the name kept haunting me like a nightmare, but not in a bad way. Every time I think back on him, his warm smile and sunny disposition keeps me from slipping away into Clayface completely. But I couldn't figure out why that boy gives me such an incredible anchor, keeping my mind separate from Clayface. Why did I think of him so much, why?

As I contemplated these thoughts, I thought I heard a boom, had I regained the ability to hear again?

"Code Red, the prisoners are escaping!" a voice clearly screams, his tone frantic and panicked. So I wasn't imagining it, I could hear. "Someone contain Livewire!" another man yells. "Sorry boys, but I'm here to have some fun, and what better way than releasing the boys from lock up" a girl yells down the hall. She was apparently getting closer.

Suddenly, I was filled with great pain, as both me and Clayface begin to feel electrocution. Feel…somehow I was feeling again! I felt the pain of the attack the girl was giving us, but I also realized something; if Clayface was so weak I could access my senses…then I could possibly break free! I fought and fought as the electricity kept being surged through us. After several seconds it stopped, but I wasn't about to give up; this could be my one chance at freedom. I struggled and pulled with all my might, one thought giving me the strength to keep trying; Robin…I must find Robin!

With a final snap, I broke out and shot away from Clayface in a lump. I quickly attempted to reform into my human body, and found it was rather easy, how could I remember that form so well after all the time I'd spent inside Clayface? I decided it probably had to do with Robin, so I began to run, run as far away from Arkham as possible. What I didn't realize was that Clayface wasn't following me until I'd finally ran past the walls Livewire had busted through. As I got farther and farther, I felt my knowledge slipping…just like the last time. NO! I wouldn't let that happen again, if there was one thing I couldn't lose, it's the memories of my name, and that boy who risked everything for me; Robin. I was finally free from the monster, and I wasn't about to let him ruin everything again. As I kept running across the land, I never let the name leave the corners of my thoughts. "Robin, I'm coming to find you, I have to know why I keep thinking about you" I say to myself as I keep running.


	3. Chapter 3 A Broken Mold

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

**Chapter 3: A Broken Mold**

**Bruce Wayne/Batman**

"Commissioner Gordon, why did you call me here? You said all but one of the prisoners escaped, shouldn't I be tracking them down instead of being here?" I ask, puzzled at Gordon's request that we come to Arkham. It had been a whole night since the incident had occurred last evening, and I felt uneasy letting so many super villains roam the streets free. Darn that Livewire, if she hadn't busted out of Stryker's Island, none of this would have happened! Thankfully my pal Clark, the great Superman had come and subdued her with a portable water cannon and quickly re-detained her in the special electric proof suit.

"Yeah I know Batman, but you might be interested in who it was that remained behind, even after his cell and containment unit was damaged" Gordon replies in a gruff voice.

"Well who was it? Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, The Scarecrow, Two Face, Scarface, who?" Robin nags with his childish voice.

"See for yourself" Gordon says, pointing to the cell block with a blown out wall. As I looked more closely on our approach, my eyes widened as I realized who was in there. Robin seemed to realize it too.

"Batman…is that…"

"Clayface, its him alright" I finish quickly to silence my young side kick. As we stepped through the wreckage, we saw Clayface lying on the ground in a partly melted pile, with a large hole in his side.

"We found him like this, the only guy who hadn't attempted to run, some of the guards report seeing that Livewire fired a bolt at his cell. The lightning must have blasted through his container and shocked him too" Gordon says as he stares at the blackened and pitiful Clayface. I decided to approach the fallen beast, certain I could handle him in this state if he tried anything.

"Matt, Matt Hagen, can you hear me?" I ask softly, trying to not sound intimidating.

"(Groan) Ba…Batman? What are you doing here?" he asks weakly, apparently having taken more damage than his current state implied.

"I need to know what happened here last night" I command, switching to my full Batman voice.

"Well I didn't see much, but what I know is quite shocking" he laughs weakly. His face then became more serious. "Ok Batman, here's the buzz; about 10:30 PM last night, Livewire waltzes in here, blasting the heck outta this place, claimed she was letting the boys out so she can have fun. Well she's coming down the hall and I see her lift her hand, and she lets a lightning bolt loose, headed straight for my cell. The strike goes straight through the stone and hits my containment unit, busts right through and zaps me. I wasn't afraid of dying, cause as you know electricity can't really harm me" he explains. I then stared at the gaping hole in his side. "At least…that's what I thought. After thunder panties was done turning me into a lightning rod, I felt a huge piece of me explode off. The weird part is, it really aches, strange cause usually pieces of me come off real painlessly, odd isn't it?" he replies hoarsely.

I quickly took at look beside him at the ground near the containment unit, it had small traces of Clayface's body. "Did you try to escape Hagen?" I ask gruffly. He shook his head, "No way, with the pain I was in last night, I couldn't even move; way worse than the time you tried to shock me. She must have had really special electrics in her caboose, cause I sure as hell never felt pain from sparks before that lady" Clayface wheezes. Having gathered the information I sought, I scoped up a little residue, then got a bio scan of Clayface before turning to leave. Just before we got out of range of their voices, I heard Gordon complain, "I really have to nail that guy's feet to the ground so he can't vanish on me"

**Tim Drake/Robin**

This was major weird; Clayface never got hurt from electricity before, and he would never have turned down a chance to run free, so it was possible he was lying about his condition. But then again, he looked to be in considerable pain, and that's hard to fake, especially with a body made of clay, so something must have happened.

"Bruce, you think something more than what we've seen is going on?" I ask tentatively as I remember what happened to Annie last time I saw her.

"I'd count on it" he replies simply, typing away furiously on the computer as he analyzes the residue and bio scan.

"Uh pardon me Master Bruce, but as important as this case is, Master Timothy does have school work to attend to" Alfred says as he walks in with a tray of tea and cookies.

"I already finished it Alfred, and school ended today" I argue, still trying to mull over the thoughts of what had really happened to Clayface. "Oh, well then perhaps you might go tidy up your living quarters then?" he suggests. I quickly erupted into laughter, and Bruce couldn't hide a small smile. "Isn't that your job Alfred?" Bruce jokes. Alfred's face quickly fell as he realized his plot had failed. "Very well sir, I'll be back later then" he says as he walks off, leaving the tray behind.

As I stared at Bruce, I realized to avoid becoming as obsessed as he was with solving crime, I might as well go do some rounds through the city as Robin, take a proactive approach. "Bruce, I'm gonna get a start on the nightly rounds of patrol, I'll see you later" I announce as I dash into the changing area and don my costume and mask. "Alright, but be careful Tim, most of the Arkham prisoners are still loose, if you run into one let me know immediately" he replies, never once taking his eyes off the computer screen; heaven forbid I ever end up as emotionally repressed and stiff as that guy. As I donned my gear, I ran up the bat mobile road and headed for the gates, then swung out into the night, right for Gotham.


	4. Chapter 4 Bubble Bubble, Babe In Trouble

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

**Chapter 4: Bubble, Bubble, Babe In Trouble**

**Annie**

It was dark, and once again I was alone. Since I'd escaped from Arkham Asylum, I had managed to fight and keep my individuality. Unlike the first time when Clayface had created me, I didn't feel the memories I had slipping away as I got further from him. I realized that either he didn't consciously know I'd been separated from him yet, or he was letting me go at last.

Whatever the case, I knew as much as I did since my separation last evening, I'd fought off the sensation of my mind slipping, struggling to keep my individuality for hours, and it finally paid off. I had since been running, running into Gotham, intent on finding the one person who could help me; Robin. As I kept running, I never let my mind stray from his name, and that face, knowing I'd find him sooner or later.

**Tim Drake/Robin**

As I swung over the city, I saw it was rather quiet considering how many bad guys were sprung from the joint by Livewire. "Must be in hideouts, planning their crimes" I say to myself as I land in an industrialized area. Suddenly, I realized something, the area I'd landed in…

"This is where I met Annie" I gasp under my breath. I suddenly felt very upset, remembering how she had been so cruelly killed by her "father". She didn't deserve such a fate, she was good, she was innocent…"She was beautiful" I think, my beautiful comment slipping into my voice, which seemed to speak on its own accord. What I couldn't understand was…why couldn't I stop thinking about her? She was cute yes, but there was something else, something intriguing about the way she looked at me, how she was so kind and innocent. Could it be possible that I…

That's when realization hit me like a ton of bricks; I couldn't stop thinking about Annie…because I loved her!

"Good God, what have I done? I meet one girl and she steals my heart like it's a cheaply guarded priceless heirloom. If Batman finds out about this I'll never hear the end of it!" I growl, as I realize that having admitted I fell in love, made my pain from losing her all the more intense, plus I could already hear Batman screeching in my ears, "YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH THE PIECE OF CLAYFACE! Where is your sense boy? That thing wasn't even human, you must train to give yourself mental guards so female criminals cannot take advantage of you"

I could swear I felt my ears ringing just from imagining what such a lecture would sound like. I quickly shrugged it off and remembered I had to keep an eye out for criminals, Batman was busy back at the Bat Cave, so it was up to me to keep an eye on Gotham. Suddenly, a familiar pair of voices rang out from a nearby roof top, and I remembered I didn't have to go this alone, Batgirl and Night Wing were here. I immediately fired my bat cable and proceeded to swing over to them.

Upon reaching the roof top, we greeted each other, and I told them about how Batman was still researching the data he'd acquired earlier.

"I knew that guy was obsessed, but only Batman would spend countless hours doing crime research on a guy who is still locked up" Dick groans, apparently embarrassed that he used to have to be the guy's sidekick.

"Its just who he is, you know all the batmen have had tragic child hoods, you and Batman probably had the worst, at least Batgirl's dad is alive, and I grew up in a world knowing my dad would probably die soon anyway so it didn't hit me as hard; you can't blame Bruce from trying to keep that from ever happening to anyone ever again" I explain, understanding how both Dick Grayson and Bruce had lost their beloved parents to criminals, but now I knew what it felt like to have someone close to you taken away, never to see them again. Tears begin to fall from my face as the pain increased.

"Tim…are you ok?" Barbara asks worriedly. I was about to reply, when a girl shrieked in terror. "Someone's in trouble!" I shout, snapping myself out of my depression. Batgirl and I fired out cable guns, and Nightwing spread his arms and opened his wings, heading directly for the shriek of terror that came a short distance to the east.

Upon landing a good twenty feet from them, I yelled to the criminals, "Haven't punks like you learned that its not nice to stalk ladies?"

The punks however didn't seem to want to fight, and fled when they realized who had called them out. "Heh, looks like I've got a good intimidation streak building, bet you never made the criminals run like that at my age did you Nightwing?" I reply with a smirk. Seeing Nightwing scowl made me realize that I was right. However, the girl's voice made me forget everything when I heard her whisper, "Robin?"

I then turned to look at the girl, able to see clearly now that the punks had cleared out. What I saw shocked me, and nearly made me faint; there before me, stood the girl I'd thought was gone forever.

"A-Annie?" I croak, barely able to form the word coherently as I felt my legs nearly fail me.

**Annie**

I'd had quite a night; after finally making my way into the city, I'd managed to get all the way back to near where I'd met Robin, and then the same gang members who tried to hurt me before cornered me again. Then, like a miracle, Robin has appeared and scared them away. It was like a dream, he was standing there, proud and tall, he'd grown a lot since I last saw him. Then after getting over the shock and alerting him of my acknowledgement of his presence, his eyes drifted over to me, and it looked like he was about to faint. As he muttered my name, I lost my composure. I quickly ran and embraced him, crying with a mixture of both sadness and joy.

"Robin! I'm so glad I found you, I've been trying to find you ever since I…" I begin, suddenly stopping upon noticing the two other folks who were with Robin, I quickly realized from their symbols they must be friends of his.

"Since you what?" The man with a full black suit and bird symbol asks with curiosity, the girl in the bat costume kneeling down as well to hear what I was about to say.

"Since I…separated from Clayface last night" I reply quietly, causing all three of their jaws to drop simultaneously.

"We gotta get you to Batman" the bat girl says quickly as she pulls out a communicator.

"Wait! Batgirl…let me do it" Robin says, taking the communicator. "Batman…you're not gonna believe this" Robin says quietly.


	5. Chapter 5 Broken Bird

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

**Chapter 5: Broken Bird**

**Bruce Wayne/Batman**

"She's what!" I scream, struggling to contain the worry in my tone. When Tim had called me, I wasn't too surprised to know he must have some information by his tone. But what he told me was a real trip. I'd known something big had happened with Clayface when he was zapped by Livewire, but I never could have imagined Annie would be freed during the ensuing chaos the electric girl had caused. I quickly regained my composure and quickly calculated what to do. "Nightwing, Batgirl, can you hear me?" I ask firmly. "Yeah we hear you Batman, what's the plan?" Dick responds. "We need to bring Annie to the Bat Cave so we can keep an eye on her" I say flatly.

**Tim Drake/Robin**

When Batman replied, I expected him to say "turn her over to the police and return home". But I never expected this, and nearly fell over at hearing him say we bring her back to the Bat Cave. "Batman, you feeling ok?" Batgirl asks him. "Yes, now bring Annie here quickly, there isn't much time" he replies, his tone haste. "Alright, we're on our way Bats" Dick replies, shutting off the communicator.

"Where are we going?" Annie asks worriedly. I quickly rushed to her side and held her hand. "It's ok Annie, we're just going back to the place Batman keeps his headquarters" I say reassuringly, causing her to visibly calm. "Will you be coming with me?" she asks quietly, her tone hopeful and worried for an answer. As I looked into her eyes, I saw desperation, like she would cry if we got separated. "Of course, I work with Batman, I'm not gonna leave your side" I say as I embrace her softly. Instantly, she hugged me back, like I was a beloved childhood toy. "Alright, Robin you ride with me, Annie you ride with Batgirl" Dick says commandingly. Annie looked at me with worry, but I put a hand on her shoulder and smiled, making her smile back. We quickly mounted the motorcycles and sped back toward the Bat Cave.

**Alfred Pennyworth**

"Master Bruce, I have some tea and cookies for you sir" I say as I walk down the stairway into the Bat Cave. "Thanks Alfred" he says, taking a cup of tea from my tray. "Why sir, I didn't realize you were so thirsty; is it going to be one of those nights again?" I ask with concern. "Yes Alfred, one of those nights" he replies with a sigh. "Oh my" I reply, realizing it was indeed going to be one of those evenings.

Suddenly, the screeching of tires and roar of engines told me that Dick and Barbara had arrived. "Ah, Master Dick, Miss Barbara, so good of you to join us" I say as I carry the tray over to them. "Hey Alfred, we brought a guest too" Master Timothy adds as he jumps off Dick's motorcycle.

"I assume we're all going to be staying up late I see-wait, did you say a guest? I wasn't informed that there would be a guest Master-"

"Alfred, you've given away enough already" Bruce says as he puts his palm to his forehead. "Oh my, I'm so sorry sir; so who is our guest?" I ask as I sit the tray down. "Hi…" a timid voice replies from behind Barbara. My eyebrows raised slightly, and I peered over to look behind her. What I saw surprised me. "Oh my heavens, a girl?" I gasp, feeling a bit surprised that I had not been informed of this. "She's with me Alfred, her name is Annie" Tim says as he holds her hand. "My word, she is quite a filly; would you care for a spot of tea?" I ask as I take a cup and offer it to her. She seemed like she would scream in fear any moment, the surroundings and dark atmosphere were overwhelming her. "I…I can't eat or drink, I'm not capable" she says quietly, her tone filled with what seemed to be regret for not being able to take my offer.

"Why not? Its delicious lemon tea with honey" I say, hoping the flavor might change her mind. "No Alfred, she really can't eat or drink" Bruce replies. "Why ever not sir?" I inquire, curious as to why such a young girl wouldn't take a nice drink. "Because she's a spawn of Clayface" Bruce replies, turning back around in his chair to face the computer again.

Now I finally realized what was going on. "You mean…this is the Annie girl you've told me about for the last year Master…Robin?" I begin, catching myself before I revealed Tim's secret identity too. "Yeah, this is her alright, she needs a place to stay" Tim replies cheerfully, never once letting go of her hand. "I already have quarters arranged for her" Bruce says as he pushes a button on the console, causing an area behind the computer to light up, revealing a large, liquid filled casket like container.

**Tim Drake/Robin**

When I saw the containment unit, I nearly screamed. "NO! YOU CAN'T PUT HER IN THAT!" I shout, holding Annie tightly for fear that Bruce might just take her away. "I'm not letting her run free, she goes in the containment unit" Bruce says firmly as he points at it. "Why don't you trust her?" I ask angrily, causing Annie to get behind me. "Robin how are we supposed to trust her? You know she's a part of Clayface, she isn't even human" he replies coldly.

That made me snap. "Not human? How can you say that!" I scream, tears beginning to run down my face. "Robin, you know as well as I do that she's a security risk because-"

"SHUT UP! YOU'RE WRONG, SHE'S DONE NOTHING WRONG, SHE'S INNOCENT, HOW CAN YOU JUDGE HER JUST BECAUSE SHE'S CLAYFACE'S DAUGHTER!" I shout, cutting off my adoptive father's nonsensical reply.

"Robin, please listen to me-"

"NO! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ACTUALLY THINK ANNIE IS A THREAT, I HATE YOU!" I bellow, slipping my hand out of Annie's and running up the stairs, heading straight for my room. With every step, I felt my tears fall, horrified to know that my master thought Annie really was a monster.


	6. Chapter 6 Behind The Mask

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

**Chapter 6: Behind The Mask**

**Alfred Pennyworth**

After hearing Bruce's statements and Tim's outbursts, I couldn't keep myself quiet any longer. "Sir! I can't believe you" I say angrily, fighting to keep myself from screaming the way Tim had. "Alfred don't tell me you're siding with Robin" he asks worriedly. "Indeed I' am sir! You've gone too far this time" I say as I walk over to Annie and place a gentle hand on her shoulder. "This girl is about as dangerous as a docile British Tabby; the fact that you think a child this sweet could ever be considered dangerous makes me want to seriously question your sanity Batman" I argue heatedly. My sentence made him wince, he knew I never called him Batman unless I was really ticked off.

"But you know that being a part of Clayface means that she could possibly be connected to him; please Alfred, be reasonable" Bruce pleads. "What I know sir, is that this girl is alone, afraid, and by the look on her face, terrified of you for what you said about her" I say as I hug the poor darling, I could hear her beginning to cry into my tuxedo. "Not human indeed, how can you possibly say such a horrible thing. If you truly believe that, you've begun to lose your own humanity" I state forcefully, hugging the poor dear to try and calm her down. This seemed to make Bruce soften up, as he sighed and knelt down to face Annie.

"I'm sorry about what I said, I don't think you're a monster. But I' am concerned about the possibility that Clayface may have a telepathic link with your mind. May I please run a quick test to see if you really aren't connected to him?" Bruce asks kindly.

"Y-You won't hurt me, will you?" she asks timidly. "Of course not, it will be a painless procedure, all you have to do is put on a helmet and let me measure your brainwaves" he says kindly.

She nodded her head, and we quickly led her over to a nearby chair at the computer, where Bruce promptly places a metal helmet over her head. Smiling, I strapped her into the helmet, and hoped this would go well.

**Annie**

As I awaited the machine to be turned on, I saw Alfred smiling, and Batman typing away furiously at the device called a computer. After several minutes, he said that I could get up and take the helmet off, but I was to stay still. About a half hour later, he gave the good news. "Annie, I wasn't sure if I'd find brainwaves in your clay body, but I have, and even better, is that yours are the only ones in it" he says quietly, filling me with hope. "You can stay here" he states with a smile, causing me to hug Alfred, and then him.

"But…for the time being, you'll have to stay in the Bat Cave, since you have no legal identity, you'll need to be kept a secret. For now, since its been an unusually quiet night of crime, we're going to try and get some sleep" Batman says as he begins to walk away. "Alfred, set up a cot in the back please" he continues before walking out of sight.

"Of course sir; come on dear, lets get you to bed" Alfred says kindly. "Thank you but, I'm not capable of sleep, all I can do is lie down, but I wouldn't mind having the cot for that" I reply quietly, hoping he wouldn't be upset that I wouldn't be sleeping. "Of course Miss Annie, I understand. I do hope you give your brain a chance to relax and de-stress, you've had quite a busy time since last night. I'll be back in a moment.

After about 15 minutes, Alfred came back, rolling a wheeled bed across the cave floor. "This is an emergency cot for when Batman needs to work extremely late and is then too tired to come to bed" Alfred replies as he lowers the bed down to ground level and moves the wheels further up the legs to prevent rolling. "Thank you Alfred, and could you give a message to Robin for me?" I ask tentatively, unsure if he would be ok with ferrying messages.

With a warm smile, he said, "Of course dear, what do you wish me to tell him?" I quickly thought it over, and decided it would best if it was something simple but thoughtful. "Tell him, I owe him everything, and that I hope he sleeps well, and that I'm glad to be accepted for who I' am" I explain. Alfred then broke out into a warm smile, and replied, "I'll make sure to tell him as soon as I go up there" He then hugged me and promptly left to leave the cave.

**Tim Drake/Robin**

Shortly after I had run upstairs, Bruce came and let me know that he didn't really believe she was a monster. That helped me calm down, but then I got fired up when he mentioned he gave her a brain scan to search for Clayface and a possible telepathic connection. After further calming, I managed to forgive him, he had done it because he cared about all of us. Now past midnight, I found myself drifting into a light sleep, every frame of thought leading me to Annie. "(Sigh) I have to tell her someday, I hope I can work up the courage to soon" I say as I yawn and surrender to slumber.

**Annie**

It had been several hours, but I found myself unable to relax. I couldn't stop thinking about Robin. No matter what I tried to think about, or how much I tried to rest my thoughts, I kept drifting back to him. "Why can't I stop thinking about Robin?" I ask myself out loud. I realized I wasn't going to find any peace just laying down in the Bat Cave, so I decided that I should try to find Robin. I quickly jumped off the bed, and began to wander in the direction Alfred went earlier.

The Bat Cave was proving to be extremely vast, after over twenty minutes of searching, I'd found nothing that was evidence of an exit. "(Sigh) Maybe I should just wait till morning, its not like I can just lean against the wall and find a secret entrance" I state as I let my brain do the talking and lean against the smooth stone wall at the top of the most recent staircase I'd found. Suddenly, I felt the wall my elbow rested on give way, and a sliding sound issued from behind me. As I turned around, I saw part of the wall had slid to the side, revealing the opening to a hallway.

"So much for my theory" I say as I walk through, hoping I'd find Robin soon. As I walked down the hall, I noticed it was a very fancy. "Batman must be pretty rich to afford something this big" I whisper to myself as I keep walking. At the end of the hallway, I noticed there was a door in the wall; someone's room was there, as I heard snoring. Realizing the door was slightly ajar, I slipped it open and slunk in without a sound. When I faced the bed, I saw a figure half draped in sheets, and it was the source of the snoring. I looked around, and saw a black facial mask sitting on the small table beside the bed. "Robin's mask, that must mean Robin live somewhere in this house, but what is it doing by this boy's bed?" I ask myself under my breath. I then smelled the air, and found the entire room was filled with Robin's smell. "Wait, if this is the room his smell is originating in, that would mean…"

I instantly realized where I was, and I felt my face grow hot for some reason. "I'm…in Robin's bedroom" I gasp out loud, quickly covering my mouth for fear of blurting out again. The boy in the bed softly stirred and began to mumble. "(Incoherent nonsense) Go-Gotta, tell Annie. (Snore) tell feelings, tell her…(Snore) I'm Tim Drake" the boy drones as he slumbers.

Tim…his name was so handsome, like he was. I felt my face growing hotter as I looked at him, but I couldn't figure out why I should be feeling this way. Suddenly, I reached to touch his face. I couldn't understand why I was doing this, but I knew I couldn't deny that I wanted to. As my hand kept reaching closer and closer, I wondered what he would feel like; would being a crime fighter make it rough and scaly like Clayface's body? Just as I began to touch his skin, his eyes flew open. A split second later, he screamed. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" we both shout simultaneously, and we kept screaming several seconds longer. Before I could run, the door was kicked open. "FREEZE!" a man in a robe shouts angrily as he brandishes his fists. Gasping, I fell to my knees and covered my head. A quick sniff made me realize this man was Batman, and I knew he was distrustful of me, now I might have really blown it. "Please don't hurt me" I whimper. Immediately, Tim's voice changed and became worried. "Annie?" he asks bewilderedly.


	7. Chapter 7 Midnight Annie

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

**Chapter 7: Midnight Annie**

**Tim Drake/Robin**

At first I thought there was an intruder trying to rob the manor, but after hearing the voice belonged to Annie, my worry went from being about my own safety, to hers. "Annie, how did you get in here? You're supposed to be down in the Bat Cave" I say as I leap off my bed and hug her. Bruce promptly turned on the light just to make sure it was her.

"I'm sorry Tim, I was just trying to find you, I can't get any rest, my mind is racing. I'm sorry I woke you up" she replies softly, like she was ashamed that she bothered me. Suddenly I noticed something was very wrong; Annie had called me by my real name. "Annie…how do you know my real name?" I ask with concern, surely she hadn't broken in here just to find out. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I came in here and heard you say it in your sleep, you were planning to tell me sometime weren't you?" she asks, her tone showing she was sorry she had heard before I'd planned.

"So you know who I' am, do you know who Batman is?" I ask, hoping she hadn't learned. She shook her head in response. "No, I just came in here and found you asleep" she says as she sits on the ground, curled up to me. I was stunned, she came all the way out of the dark, damp Bat Cave, just cause she wanted to find me; I was truly speechless at her devotion. "Thanks, that means a lot Annie; Batman, can we be left alone? I need to get back to sleep, and Annie needs to be around me to relax, can you please trust us?" I plead, hoping for a miracle.

"You don't have to worry about it, I already trust you Tim" he says with a smile. My jaw nearly dropped at hearing him, he'd just admitted he trusts me! "Good night you two, try not to have too much fun" he replies, combining a small wink with a firm glare, apparently still worried I might do something stupid. Trusts me, yeah right, I knew it was too good to be true, but at least he wasn't gonna try and separate us again. After quickly shutting the door and turning off the lights, he left the room. Upon knowing he was out of earshot, I immediately helped Annie up and motioned for her to sit on the bed. She eagerly complied.

"So Annie…you uh…really seem to be fond of me huh?" I reply, suddenly feeling nervous now that I was alone with her. "Yes, but its strange" she says, her eyes focusing on her lap instead of me. This was quite odd, considering how badly she had wanted to see me. "What do you mean Annie?" I ask worriedly. She finally turned her face to look at mine, and I felt my heart get caught in my throat. I knew she was cute from the day I met her, but I'd never seen her like this before. In the moonlight, her face was absolutely gorgeous! Her eyes shone like obsidian, and her skin glowed like a star was radiating right in front of her, plus her figure was just right, so this only made me feel even more nervous.

"Robin, ever since I was absorbed by Clayface, I've thought about you. Whenever I felt him trying to destroy me, I kept thinking about you to give me strength. I don't know why, but remembering your smile and kindness…it gave me a strength unlike anything I'd ever felt. Oh Tim, please don't be upset, I just feel the need to be around you" she says as she suddenly begins to shed tears and decides to hug me. Holding in my yelp, I decided to hug her back and help calm her down. "Annie, why would I be upset?" I reply as I hold her arms gently, her eyes looking up to see my face in response. "I like being around you" I say softly.

**Annie**

As I heard him say it, I felt my heart flutter; Tim likes being around me, I never could have imagined it. He then gently parted some of my hair that had fallen into my face, and smiled. "Why wouldn't I? You're so nice, and you're cute" he states, as if it was a fact. I was puzzled by the word "cute". It was completely foreign to me, what did it mean?

"Tim, what does "cute" mean?" I ask, hoping he wouldn't think I was being to needy. Upon hearing my question, he blinked, as if he was surprised I didn't know. "You don't know the meaning of the word cute?" he replies, proving he was surprised. I shook my head, feeling ashamed that I had to ask the meaning of a word so simple sounding. "Well, the word means the same as beautiful, so saying someone is cute, means you find them beautiful" Robin explains, his cheeks turning red, as he turned away from me and rubbed the back of his head.

I quickly gasped as the full weight of what he said sunk in. "(Stammering) Y-You think I'm b-b-beautiful?" I choke, scarcely able to believe what I'd heard. Tim nodded, unable to face me, he must have been nervous and scared to tell me, I could see him shaking. "Tim…no one has ever said that and genuinely meant it before" I reply as I hug him tightly, feeling a fluid substance leaking from my eyes. I quickly realized if I kept leaking my face would liquefy. I promptly sucked the tears back in before Tim could see what had happened. Suddenly, I felt a strange calm wash over me, as I held Tim, I felt something I had never felt before; peace, I finally felt peace and calm!

"Robin…can I get in bed with you?" I ask quietly, hoping he wouldn't object. "WHAT?" he screams, falling onto his back with a frozen face. "I just wanna stay with you, I haven't ever felt truly peaceful in my life, and I just finally realized I feel peaceful whenever I'm around you. All I want is to lay in the bed and hold you while you sleep" I explain, hoping I wasn't getting on his nerves. Upon hearing my explanation, he visibly calmed down and wiped his forehead. "Phew! You had me scared there, for a minute I thought you meant something else by that question" he says with a nervous chuckle. That made me feel confused, so I gave him a puzzled look. "I'll tell you what that means later, but sure, you can stay with me Annie" he says as he lays back on the bed and grabs his sheets. I quickly clambered under them and curled up to Tim, taking in his scent. It was a wonderful, peaceful aroma. As I held Tim, I could feel my mind shutting down, being incapable of real sleep, I guess I was just finally resting I'd reached such a relaxed state, and I was ok with that, cause even though I didn't know what might happen tomorrow, I knew I was with him now, my Robin.


	8. Chapter 8 Mornin Annie

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

**Chapter 8: Mornin Annie**

**Tim Drake/Robin**

As I felt my eyes adjust to the morning light, they quickly fluttered open from my state of slumber; honestly, Bruce could try to be more like me. I quickly attempted to sit up, but found my movements restricted. Wait…why couldn't I just jump up? I attempted to move again, but still found it difficult to do so. I decided to look down and see what was causing this. My eyes widened at what I saw. There, latched around my chest, were the arms of Annie! She was hugging me like I was the best teddy bear in the world as silently lay there.

"Oh good lord, don't tell me that I…we…-" I stutter, hoping I was wrong about what I feared. I lifted the sheets momentarily and breathed a sigh of relief. Whew! Man I was worried, thank goodness it was just a little overactive imagination. Though maybe doing it with her might one day be a possibility if we…Oh who am I kidding? Dude get a grip on reality; the moment Bruce knows things are going to get serious, he'll tear us apart and make her run away from me.

I then felt a pang of pain at the thought of never seeing her again, as I looked down at her unconscious face, smiling even though she wasn't active, the thought of never seeing that beautiful smile again made the pain even worse. "NO! I wouldn't let it happen. Bruce can take anything else away from me, but not her, that's where I'm gonna draw the line!" I yell, my thoughts slipping out before I realized it. "Master Timothy?" Alfred asks worriedly from outside my door. I gasped and attempted to wriggled free Annie before this became the Wayne manor spectacle of the year.

"Master Timothy, are you alriiiAAAAHHHHHH!" Alfred screams as he walks in and sees the entire thing, nearly having a heart attack. "Alfred, its not what you think! Look" I say as I quickly tear the sheets off to prove myself. He calmed down when he noticed that I wasn't doing what he'd thought we were doing. "Honestly Alfred, you know I'm not like that; now can you please help me get loose? She's sweet, but I can't move" I say as I point to her vice grip arms. With Alfred's help, I managed to loosen her arms and get free. "My my Master Timothy, must have been quite the charmer to get her to hold you that tightly" Alfred jokes. "Yeah, I guess I don't know my own strength" I laugh, smiling at the idea of hugging her again. "Hey Alfred, I wanted to run an idea by you, lets go fix breakfast while we discuss it" I say as I slip off my mattress and onto my feet. "Very good sir" he replies as we make our way to the kitchen.

Several minutes later, breakfast was well underway; fixing eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes sure smelled great. The best part was, Bruce was still asleep. This gave me time to begin preparations for step one of my three step plan to getting a date with Annie accomplished today. Step one would be, ask Alfred for any possible tips. Sure Alfred was an old guy, and his techniques might be a tad outdated, but at least he has some. Bruce may be a great crime fighter, but he is terrible with women. As Alfred finished fixing the pancakes, I asked, "Alfred…do you know a good place for a date?"

Alfred didn't seem surprised, and smiled. "Wanting to take Miss Annie for a day on the town do you?" he asks slyly. I was rather astonished that he'd caught on so quickly. "Was it that obvious?" I ask with a laugh. "Indeed Master Timothy, I could see the look on the girl's face too. It reminds me of how Master Bruce's parents would hold each other" he replies blissfully, remembering happier times. "So you know a few tricks right?" I reiterate, hoping I wasn't going to be led in circles. "Of course, but from what I've learned over the past year when I heard you mention Annie's personality during meals-"

"But I've never talked about her during meals" I interject, wondering where he got that info. "Your mind must have done the talking then, cause it couldn't stop prattling. Anyways, from what I've heard, she doesn't have much knowledge of popular culture or stereotypes, if any at all. She's a pure and honest soul, you won't need fancy tricks to win her affections, of that I'm sure" Alfred continues, eloquently explaining his opinion. "Well I still want to make this a date special, so where would be a good place to go that's not far away and wont make Bruce freak out?" I reply, hoping there was a nice place close to home.

"As luck would have it, there is Master Timothy" Alfred says as he pours himself a glass of orange juice. "There is?" I ask with surprise. "Yes, a new amusement park opened up a few weeks ago down by the river sir" Alfred replies as he sips the OJ. "What's it called?" I say as I munch on some sausage. "Gothamland by the Sea, its quite the spectacle, they even have a giant Ferris wheel over a hundred feet tall" Alfred remarks. "Does the Ferris wheel rotate slowly?" I ask, suddenly getting an idea. "Quite sluggish from what I've seen sir" he adds as he sips his OJ again. "That's perfect! Alright, I got step one accomplished. Now for the second one, and it might be the hardest" I say as I grab a few pieces of bacon and scarf them down. "And what might that be Master Timothy?" he inquires, suddenly looking up from the paper as his interest is gained.

I gulped as I realized the level of my task I had set myself up to do and said, "Convince Bruce to let me leave unsupervised"

Immediately, Alfred spit out some orange juice and began to choke. "Oh my" he sputters as he attempts to recover from the inhaled beverage. "Yeah, wish me luck Alfred…I'll need it" I reply as I begin to walk out of the kitchen and toward Bruce's room. I decided it was best to move as quickly as possible and get it over with, then I could move to step three. As I reached his bedroom door, I turned the knob, and entered as swiftly as I could. There lay Bruce, no doubt still asleep due to the sprawled form coating the mattress.

"Uh…Bruce, I have a big question to ask" I begin, hoping he'd hear me. "Hey what is it Tim?" he mumbles groggily. I realized it was going better than I'd hoped, maybe because Bruce was so tired he was more open to suggestions. "Um…I know it seems a little sudden, but, I'm wanting to ask Annie out on a date, but without your permission I know you'll come break us apart as soon as you get wind we went out. So can I please take Annie to the amusement park a few miles down the road?" I ask, silently begging he would O.K this endeavor.

"Yeah yeah, sure thing. Just…make sure you're careful and be back before night fall for patrol" Bruce mumbles as he turns over and covers his face with the sheets.

I nearly screamed in shock; Bruce had just said "Yes", YES! He told me I could go take out Annie! "D-D I…thanks Bruce" I stammer as I stiffly walk out the door, scarcely able to believe what I'd been told. As I quietly closed the door and began walking down the hallway, I realized just how significant my victory was. I quickly pumped my fist in the air and resisting the urge to scream, I said in a moderate voice, "YES!" Now having completed step two, it was time for the final step, and this one could conceivably be the hardest.

Getting the nerve to ask Annie out.

As I raced back to my room, I thought of a way to ask her without sounding cheesy. As I stood outside my door, I ran a few ideas through my head, and then went for a simple one. "(Takes a breath) Ok, here it goes…Annie, I know this seems a little strange but I was wondering if you wanted to go on a…-" I begin as I throw the door open, and realize that she isn't in the bed. I instantly ran back to the kitchen to see if Alfred had seen her. "Alfred! Alfred! Have you seen Annie? She isn't in my room" I pant, feeling out of breath from a combination of my anxiety and hard running. "Actually yes; while you and I were preparing breakfast, I saw her trekking toward the direction of the main library" he states as he sips a freshly prepared cup of tea.

"I gotta go ask her Alfred, Bruce said I had permission to take her out if she agrees" I shout as I split for the library. Just before I got out of earshot, I heard Alfred do another spit take with his tea. Upon reaching the library, I saw Annie placing a thick book back on the shelf. When she realized I was standing in the archway, she gasped. "Rob…I mean…Tim, I didn't know you were looking for me" she replies timidly. As I took a moment to take in her beauty, I prepared to ask her for the date I so richly desired.

"Annie, I…-" I begin, but suddenly find my voice is gone. This made her walk over to me, and look at me with that same concerned face she'd shown me when we'd finally seen each other for the first time in a year last night. "Tim?" she says quietly. After five minutes of silence, I decided I'd go for broke and just blurt it out, regardless of the outcome.

"ANNIE WILL YOU GO ON A DATE WITH ME?" I yell, causing her to flinch for a moment, then stare at me in what seemed like shock.


	9. Chapter 9 Seaside Merriment

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

(A/N: My apologies folks, but this chapter will be rather long compared to previous ones. I need more room for the events of this one to be shown. I hope you'll stick with me and enjoy the show)

**Chapter 9: Seaside Merriment**

**Annie**

When I'd left my state of unconsciousness a while ago, I'd found Tim wasn't still in the bed. I remembered that he was human, and would need to eat, so he was likely in the kitchen. I decided I'd try to pass the time and go look through books to find the meaning of that phrase he'd freaked out over last night. I quickly found my way into the home library, and searched for the biggest book, then began reading it. After a short while, I finished reading it from cover to cover. Just as I was placing it back on the shelf, Tim came in, saying he'd been looking for me. But he was acting weird. Finally, in a scene that shocked me, he asked me on a date.

Wait…A DATE? I'd just read about that a short time ago, and now here I was, being asked out by Tim! I began to feel flustered and flattered, and for a girl like me, being…me, Tim asking me on a date was a pretty big honor in my book. "T-Tim, I…I don't know what to say" I reply, still pretty amazed at what he had asked. Unfortunately, my response seemed to have hurt his feelings. "I'm sorry, I knew it was a stupid idea. We're just friends, I should have kept it that way, I'll go back and finish breakfast then" he says with a downcast tone. I felt like beating myself up, he had misinterpreted my statement; he thought I was upset at his request. I had to let him know before he ran off. I quickly did the fastest reaction I could think of to get his attention. Grabbing his hand, I halted his advance out of the library. This promptly caused him to turn around and look at me in surprise.

"Tim…you're only half right" I state quietly, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "We are friends-" I begin, taking his other hand in addition to the one I was already holding. "-But I also would like to go on a date with you" I add, causing him to smile. "You really mean it?" Tim asks excitedly. I nodded and smiled, signifying the truth of my statement. He immediately hugged me tightly, then just as quickly let go. "Wait here a few minutes, I gotta make the plans for the date with Alfred, go ahead and read something while we get that done" he says kindly, then rapidly runs down the hall. I grabbed another volume similar to the book I had been reading earlier and proceeded to engage into its texts.

**Tim Drake/Robin**

As I burst into the kitchen, a million thoughts were running through my head. "Alfred quick, where's the phone book!" I ask fervently as I scramble through the countertops like a tornado. "Master Timothy, calm down, what reason could there be to dashing around like a rabid dog?" Alfred asks as he places a hand on my shoulder in an attempt to calm me down.

"BECAUSE ANNIE AGREED TO GO ON A DATE WITH ME!" I shout as I claw across the granite surfaces crazily. As I kept my whirlwind of activity to find the phone book, I could have sworn I heard Alfred emit a small gasp. "Well Master Timothy, I must say I'm rather surprised that she has agreed to go on a date with you so soon. Considering what I know about the level of interaction between you two, the total time you've spent together since you met a year ago doesn't even amount to a full twenty-four hours. I'm even more surprised that she even knows what a date is" Alfred remarks as I continue my search. "Can you can the lectures till after we've had our first date man? I want this to go off without a hitch, but first I gotta find the damned phone book!" I shout angrily as my frustration reaches a new level.

With a loud AHEM, Alfred got my attention. "In case you've forgotten Master Timothy, we keep the phone books in the antique bread box beneath the cabinet tea ware is kept in" he replies with a raised eyebrow, letting me know he knew that I'd let my anxiety get the best of me.

"I'm sorry Alfred, its just that I'm extremely nervous; I've never been on a date before, you know that" I say as Alfred takes the book out and begins to flip pages. "I understand, I was young once too you know" he replies with a wink. "How long ago was that?" I ask, suddenly interested for a moment. "Would you believe it if I told you my first employer was a caveman?" Alfred jokes. I immediately stifled a laugh at his humorous remark. "Ah, here we are, the number for Gothamland by the Sea's service desk number" Alfred states as he finds the page and picks up the phone. After several seconds, Alfred began to speak, "Yes, I'd like to request the hours that Gothamland operates during weekdays"

A moment later, Alfred's eyes widened. "Eight AM to Eleven PM?" he replies with shock. We both glanced over at the clock and realized just how early it was, and how soon it would open; already it was 7:30 AM. "Well thank you for your time sir, have a pleasant day" Alfred says as he hangs up. "Quickly master Timothy, shower and grab your things, you're going to have a busy day today" Alfred says as he begins to clean up the dishes and place the leftover food into bags and containers.

"What do I need Alfred?" I ask as I jump up and prepare to rush off. "Only three things my boy; your wallet, your communicator…and your darling Annie" he replies with a smile. I nodded and bolted straight for my room to begin preparations for my first date.

_Fifteen Minutes Later_

**Annie**

After having finished reading the hundredth book I'd picked up, I began to let my mind wander. And inevitably, it rested on Tim. I still couldn't figure out why I was so enthralled by him, what made me think about him so much? Even with all the new knowledge I'd acquired from these books, an answer had yet to be reached. Before I could think any further, Tim's voice rang through the doorway and snapped me out of my thoughts, "Annie, I got that date all planned, we leave now" As he stepped through the entrance of the library, I saw Tim was dressed…well…rather stunningly. He wore a tight blue and green flower patterned surfer shirt, with surfboard in the center, and he had tan khaki pants with red umbrellas on them. Completing his tropical ensemble, were bleached white sandals. I couldn't help but stare at how handsome he looked in this beach get-up.

"Annie, we have to go, Alfred already has the limousine waiting" Tim yells, snapping me out of my trance; I instantly felt embarrassed at my actions. "Oh, right, coming" I shout as I begin to follow him. After bursting out the front door, Tim took a moment to lock it, and then he practically catapulted into the limousine through the sun roof!

"MAN! I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THAT!" he shouts as he opens the door from the inside and motions for me to get in. I quickly obliged and stepped into the ride. Within moments, the car began to move, with Tim comfortably settled in and smiling…looking at me. "So…this is what the rich people ride in right?" I remark, hoping to spark a conversation. "It sure is, shows you've got the big money" Tim says as he pats the leather seating. "What's it like living with so much wealth?" I ask, wondering if I didn't sound too lame. "Believe me Annie, being the adopted kid of a rich man is a big perk, but it hasn't turned me into an elitist snob, don't let it do that to you either, okay?" he says as he leans closer, taking my hand to emphasize how serious he was. I smiled back and kissed him on the check to show how I understood.

**Tim Drake/Robin**

I thought for a moment that she didn't understand what I meant, but when she kissed me on my cheek, I realized she did. I immediately felt myself begin to melt away, as that was the first time I'd felt her soft lips touch me since that night one year ago. When I realized I'd drifted into la-la land, I began to blush furiously. "Heh, sorry about that" I say apologetically. I spent the next few minutes trying to figure out something to say, so we sat in silence. "Are you ok Tim?" Annie asks, breaking the silence.

I struggled for a second to think of an appropriate response, and finally settled on, "Well to be honest…I'm so nervous about the date that if I was Superman, I'd be biting a steel rod to try and ease the stress" She immediately looked at me with a puzzled face, and asked, "Superman, who's that?"

"Only perhaps the greatest hero in the world; he's the last member of an alien race called the Kryptonians from a long dead world. When powered by the light of a yellow sun, he's literally a super man. He can fly under his own power, see the entire electromagnetic spectrum, shoot heat beams from his eyes, move faster than a speeding bullet, rend steel with his bare hands, and he's virtually indestructible" I explain, causing her to gasp. "He must be feared by everyone if he's so powerful" she says quietly. "You'd be surprised. I worked with the guy before, he's nothing to be afraid of unless you're a bad guy. He's actually treated better than Batman; the dude is known as the Guardian Angel of Metropolis. He does everything from fighting super villains, to busting bank robbers, heck, he even gets cats down from trees and helps old women across the street" reply with a laugh.

This caused her to lighten up some. "You mean even though he's a superhuman being…he isn't feared?" she asks, with a hopeful tone. "Yeah, its kinda ironic; Batman has no special powers, yet many of the citizens of Gotham are afraid of him, yet Superman, the exact opposite of Batman, is treated like a friend of the people" I continue as I begin to stare out the window.

"Would the people ever be able to accept me?" she asks suddenly, causing my head to snap back toward her. "Why do you ask that?" I reply, worried what she was thinking. She seemed to hesitate, as if she didn't want me to think about what she was pondering. "I'll tell you later, lets not discuss it at the moment" she says quietly.

"Master Timothy, we've arrived at your destination" Alfred announces as we come to a stop. "Alright! Thanks man, we'll see you at 11 o'clock" I reply as I open the door and step out. I immediately rushed over to Annie's door and opened it for her. As I helped her step out, she asked, "Where are we?"

"Take a look for yourself" I say as I point to the tall gateway just ahead. She immediately got curious. "Gothamland by the Sea, what's that?" she replies. "Its an amusement park, there are games, rides, and great food" I reply excitedly. "So this is what they look like…" she begins, as if deep in thought. Then with a smile she grabs my hand and yells excitedly, "-Lets go inside!" Before she could drag us both clear through the entrance, I pointed hastily at the booth. She finally stopped just before illegally entering the grounds. "Oh…right, need to buy tickets, sorry about that, I was just so curious, I just saw the entries this morning in the dictionary I read" she explains with a smile. I was about to ask how much she had learned, but she then dragged us to the counter. There was a young man in his late 20s behind the ticket window, and he sat there with a glazed look in his eyes.

"Yes can I help you children?" the man at the counter asks in a bored tone. "We'd like to buy tickets so we can spend the day here" Annie blurts, before I can even say a word. "(sigh) You must be at a minimum of 14 years of age If you want to purchase tickets and attend these facilities without a accompanying guardian of at least 21 years of age, that goes for both of you" the attendant drips lazily.

"Tim Drake, I'm the young ward living with Bruce Wayne up the road" I say as I flash my I.D card to prove my 14 year old age. The man slowly reached for it and nodded upon confirming its authenticity. But then he looked at the girl and frowned. "And her?" he asks warily. I knew what he was getting at; he thought I might be trying to sneak her in for something sleazy, the nerve! "That's my girlfriend buddy, I'm vouching for her" I say firmly.

"I don't care if she's your freakin wife, show me some I.D, or you don't get in young lady" the man replies angrily. This made Annie whimper. How infuriating! I was about to spout useless angry words, when I remembered who my guardian was, and a smile came to my lips. "So you want to give me and my girlfriend a hard time do you pal? Ok fine, but I'm gonna be giving Bruce Wayne a call as soon as I get back in the limo" I begin, causing the man to stiffen up. "I'll make sure Bruce also has a word with the supervisors of this park as well" I continue, causing him to begin sweating. "I bet Bruce has donated quite a lot of money to the company or corporation that built this place, I wonder what they'd think when they find out they had to get grief from one of their contributors just because the gate guy was a jerk who couldn't show a little trust and kindness to a young couple out on their first date" I finish, noticing that by now he was sweating bullets.

"OK, OK! I'm sorry Mr. Drake, I didn't realize this affair was so important to you" he says as he motions for us to come closer. "Please forgive me, I was just afraid I might get in trouble for letting in underage children without supervision. I'll gladly sell you tickets, just look at our deals and make a choice good sir" he states kindly.

"We'll take two all-day passes" I request, holding out 2 fingers for emphasis. Upon purchasing the 50 dollar bands, we strode right into the park just as it opened. "So Annie, what ride do you wish to try first?" I ask her kindly, hoping she'd pick a good one. For several minutes, she looked around, until she pointed toward the Pirate Ship Swing. Looking at the ride, which hadn't even been activated for the day, I asked, "That one?" Annie quickly nodded, showing interest. "Then the Pirate Swing it shall be" I say, holding her hand as we head for the gate where the lines start.

**The Joker/Jack Napier**

Normally I frowned when other criminals took it upon themselves to try and do my dirty work. But I knew that Livewire sneaking out of Metropolis and busting down Arkham's walls was a blessing. Now I was free! "HA HA HAAA! Now I can begin the machinations for my most grand scheme ever!" I laugh to myself, as Harley and me hide behind the mirrors of the Fun House here in Gothamland by the Sea. "But Puddin, don't we gotta lay low till we can get some quick cash? Otherwise Batman will hogtie us and we go back in the clink" she replies.

"So true, old Batsy will undoubtedly be a most assured pain in our pants if we don't proceed with caution" I state as I rub my chin, trying to think of a good disguise we can use for the time being. "Why not just hide right under their noses? We are in an amusement park after all" Harley suggests. "Brilliant as always my dear" I say with praise as I rub her head. "Do you have the emergency make up kit Harleykins?" I ask all mushy like so as to please her fancies. "Always Mr. J!" she remarks cheerfully as she pulls out the spare disguises from her tote bag. Smiling, I began to apply the makeup and prepared my persona.

_One Hour Later_

**Annie**

"That was fun Tim, and I like the prize I won" I say to him as I admire the rainbow colored bracelet I'd gotten from the fishing can game. "It sure is; so what do you want to do now? We haven't tried the roller coaster yet" Tim suggests. I felt nervous upon looking at the looping, high speed track as the cars ran along its rails. "I don't know if my body could stay together at those speeds" I answer reluctantly, fearing he'd be upset. "Well you have a point, maybe we shouldn't ride a roller coaster until we know more about your abilities. I wouldn't want you to be slung around the theme park like a bunch of mud, it might scare people" Tim says as he hugs me, making me stop feeling guilty for denying him a rollercoaster ride.

"Why don't we go try the tea cups? They don't move that fast, and they're a lot of fun" Tim suggests with a smile. I smiled back, and took Tim's hand, giving it a light squeeze to indicate that I was ok with it. As we strode towards the map board, we found the location and began to head toward it. On our way, we passed a small amphitheater and saw a sign. "Gothamland Amphitheater, a variety of ocean themed productions. Including Sea Side Antics; Gothamland's own Seafaring Tricksters from Oceania. Plays shown daily at 10 A.M, 1 P.M, and 3 P.M. Sea Side Antics troupe Shown every other hour" I announce aloud as I read the text. "Tim, are tricksters another kind of clown?" I ask with curiosity.

"Yeah, but we're not going to see any clowns, ever" Tim replies bitterly, breaking into a brisk walk back in the direction toward the tea cups. I felt upset, his tone indicating I had struck a nerve with the clown topic. "Its because of the Joker isn't it?" I inquire carefully as we keep walking. "Well…yeah, that guy has left most of Gotham with a bad taste for people who wear white make-up; he gave clowns a bad name" Tim retorts.

"But clowns aren't evil, people are; it's the person that lies behind the mask that matters" I say as I run up to Tim and place a hand on his face. This made him begin to smile again. "You know what, you're right; I don't want to end up like Batman, all obsessive and bitter toward something just because a bad guy used it for a motif" he says as he hugs me tightly. "Thank you Annie, you're a good influence to be around" Tim whispers in my ear, causing me to lightly blush. "Now lets go enjoy those tea cups Annie" he continues, taking my hand and lightly squeezing it as we continued our trek to the ride.

**The Joker/Jack Napier**

After having Harley do a little scouting without her costume, she came back and informed me of the kind of employees here at Gothamland. "So we have the generic theme park attendants, performer troupes who pass through, and clowns" I say to myself as I rub my chin. "Maybe stick with the hiding in plain sight bit, I mean you already look like a clown and stuff, just throw in a rubber nose and a wig and you'll fit right in" Harley suggests. "Very well, it always works well enough to fool Batman till I make a move. So as long as I don't do anything until its time for the main performance, I'll be safe as a bug in a rug" I remark as I begin to rummage through her tote bag for pieces to my disguise. Finding several that would make this ruse perfect, I began to slap them on. "When I finish formulating my greatest plan Batman, I'll take you and all the Bat freaks out" I say to myself as I slip on the red bulb.


	10. Chapter 10 When The Kids Are Out

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

**Chapter 10: When The Kids Are About, The Clowns Come Out**

_12:00 PM_

**Tim Drake/Robin**

So far the day had gone perfectly! Annie and I had tried over a dozen different rides, and she laughed and enjoyed each one with glee, holding my hand at every opportunity. I knew I'd have explain my feelings for her some time today, but I think I'll wait till the end of the day, when we ride the big 200 foot Ferris wheel. For now, I realized it was noon, and that meant it was time for the clown show at the amphitheater.

"I can't wait to see what these clowns are like" Annie says as she practically drags me to the seats. Just as we got seated, the curtains pulled back, and calliope music to the tune of the circus theme, "Entry of the Gladiators" began to play. Six unicycles began to ride onto the stage, with a much different kind of clown riding them. Though they did have face paint and red noses, they were not the over-bloated versions I'd seen back at Dick Grayson's Circus; these wore surfer dude like outfits, with sandals, T-shirts, and khakis instead of overalls and clown shoes.

Then, the tallest unicycle, a good ten feet above the others, drove onto the stage with a blonde girl clown riding it. She wore a green grass skirt with a tan tank top with a volcano symbol, and a Lei around her neck, with another red Hawaiian flower in her hair. With a loud fanfare, a boing sound was heard, and another clown came out, this one with a pair of blue swim shorts with a floral pattern, a yellow T-shirt with a Tiki statue imprinted, white sandals, black sunglasses with a red trim, and a straw beach hat.

With a mighty leap, the straw hat clown sprang straight to the top of the tall unicycle, where he grabbed the hands of the girl, where they quickly flipped each other upside down, in an instant having switched places! Now the straw hat clown was riding the unicycle, and the girl was doing a hand stand by grabbing his wrists. The moment the awe had washed over us, the rest of the crowd went wild! Even Annie was clapping in amusement. I smiled and realized that maybe not all clowns are so bad, at least these had decent wardrobes.

"Greetings and good day patrons!" the main clown says from atop the unicycle. With a back flip, he and the girl dismounted gracefully. "And what a jolly day it is, how ya doing folks?" the clown yells emphatically. The crowd immediately chuckled at the clown's performance. "Now that's what I like to hear, a happy audience! Well then its time to get the yuks under way. But first, a joke; what walks on four legs in the morning, two at midday, and three in the evening?" the clown inquires, apparently hoping for an audience to participate.

"Uh…man?" a crowd member asks.

"No, a monkey with an amputated limb!" the clown answers, busting out laughing as he snaps his fingers, causing a projector screen to come out from beneath the stage and show a five panel story. The first panel showed a monkey happily swinging from a tree, the next showed a poacher shooting the monkey in the leg, then the monkey being rushed to a hospital, followed by the doctor's looking sadly at the monkey in the hospital bed, finally ending with the monkey walking with his arms and remaining leg.

A small portion of the audience laughed, but the rest were kinda shocked at this dark joke, including me and Annie. "Tim…people actually find this stuff funny?" she says worriedly. "Its called dark humor, they say it helps you look at the lighter side of life by examining the darker side in a humorous light, I personally think it's a way to justify sick jokes for sick minds" I reply. This immediately caused her to hold my hand and squeeze, proving she thought about this the same way I did.

"I guess that one didn't set over too well with you folks, understandable, not everyone gets my brand of humor. Anywhozzles, lets move on with the first act; my lovely assistant shall attach herself to this spinning wheel, while I throw saw blades at her" the clown announces as a trunk appears on stage from a trap door. The crowd began to "ooh" at this development.

"Battery powered saws, with the on switches activated!" the clown adds, as he reaches for some of the wood shop tools and flips their switches. The crowd immediately began to applaud upon seeing how daring the clown was. With what appeared to be wild abandon, he flung them like throwing stars at the hapless assistant. Miraculously, none of them hit her, but there were plenty of screams as we saw countless near disasters. After throwing roughly 30 of the blasted things, the horror fest ended, and many audience members had left with hands over their mouths, apparently sickened to the point of puking by such a reckless tossing of sharp objects.

"What, are my jokes that bad?" the clown asks innocently. Silence greeted him, no one was laughing. "I'm complainin to the manager ya two bit psycho!" a gruff man yells in a Brooklyn accent as he takes his crying wife out of the amphitheater. I turned to see that Annie was crying too, though silently. I then glanced at the stage to see that the clown had pulled out a bow and arrow, and was preparing to shoot three arrows simultaneously at the girl's head, where a very tiny crab apple sat. "Just to let you know folks, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing! AH HA HA HA HAA!" he says as he laughs like a lunatic. For some reason, the laugh sounded familiar.

However, I quickly remembered how terrible Annie must be feeling, as I saw her face running. I also realized that if people saw she was made of clay, we'd have a situation on our hands. "Annie, lets get out of here, this clown is the kind I'd feared we'd encounter, the bad kind" I say as I hug her and begin to lead her out of the amphitheater.

**Annie**

As we finished exiting the stadium, I let loose with my crying, and Tim held me tightly. "It's ok Annie, just let it out" he says soothingly, running his fingers through my hair softly all the while. "Tim…(sniffle) how can people make so light of all the suffering in the world, how can they be so mean to each other…how can they be so cruel?" I ask, sobbing uncontrollably as I bury my face in Tim's chest.

Suddenly I found myself being led away by the hand to another ride. "I know what will cheer you up Annie" Tim replies, that gentle warm smile adorning his face. Within minutes, we'd reached our destination. "There, we're gonna ride that" he states, pointing to a platform with horses and carriages. "What's that?" I ask as I rub my eyes.

"Its called a carousel, it spins around at a moderate pace as music plays" Tim explains as he leads us to the gate, then through it to a carved carriage seat. "Now we just wait for the ride to begin, and relax as It goes" he says with a smile, as we sit down beside each other. Within seconds, the platform began to rotate, and the horses began to bob up and down, giving them the illusion of galloping. "See, its to simulate a horse ride, very relaxing, or exciting if you're a little kid" Tim laughs, pointing to a very young child as he squeals with laughter while holding onto the pole of his horse.

"I brought you here to tell you why folks are like that, like the clown you saw. Its because well…the world is a really cruel place, most people call it a dog eat dog world, because even in mankind's societies, its often a fight for the top dog, just like in nature. Though we try to make our world an equal playing field, the truth is some folks just get a rotten deal, and they turn bitter. Take The Joker for example, he was just an ordinary crook, and then he had that accident at the Ace Chemical Plant, which just drove him totally insane" he begins quietly. I gasped as the tale was told.

"Like many people, The Joker was screwed, and in his case pretty bad. Since mankind is a very survival oriented species, being screwed often drives people to take extreme measures to preserve or vindicate themselves against the unfair actions that befell them. This in turn breeds more hatred and violence. As long as there is hate, there will be crime and terrible things" he continues. I nearly began to choke up again.

"So what can be done to stop these horrors?" I say as I begin to cry, hugging him again. He then hugged me back, gently and softly and leaned his mouth close to my left ear. "Justice, kindness, hope; that's what Batman, Robin and all the other heroes fight for" he whispers. Then he leaned back and looked me in the face. "We help bring criminals to justice, we give kindness to those we were given hate, and we give hope to those who cannot fight for themselves. Sometimes we may not seem like much, but when folks like Superman, someone not even from this world does the work we do, it really inspires people. It shows that even a guy who could defeat all the world's armies on his own, believes in something greater than himself. That's what we do Annie, we fight for what is right" he concludes, returning to the hug. As we sat there, holding each other, I finally felt more peaceful, and began to relax. But one thing still clung to my mind, why did I always think about Tim?

**Bruce Wayne/Batman**

As I felt my mind finally resurface from the long nightmare of fighting every criminal in Gotham all by myself, I yawned upon waking to a new day. "(Yawn) Alfred, where are you?" I ask as I rub my eyes. "Coming sir!" he shouts from down the hall. As I heard him step through the door, he said, "A cold towel to help waken you sir?" Taking the towel, I rubbed my face to rid myself of my sleepiness. "So Alfred, anything important on the agenda for Bruce Wayne?" I ask as I hand the towel back. "There is the charity gala for National Blindness Awareness Week at 6 PM, and Gotham's most eligible bachelor is expected to make an appearance, along with a generous donation" Alfred replies dryly.

"(Moan) Well then, I guess I better go check on Clayface Jr. then clean myself up for tonight" I say as I swing my legs off the edge of my mattress and set them on the floor. A slight pause followed my statement, unusual for Alfred at this hour. "Um…Master Bruce, I'm afraid you're going to have to reverse the order of the list you just made" he replies nervously.

Now I knew something was wrong, and my eyes opened more.

"Alfred, what's going on?" I inquire with a raised eyebrow, turning to face my butler and seeing he has begun to lightly sweat. "(Gulp) Well…to be frank sir…I drove Master Timothy and Miss Annie to the destination of his choosing so he could…court her" Alfred stammers. Thinking I'd heard wrong, I asked my butler, "Could you repeat that please?" Now sweating bullets, Alfred's whole face twitched in fear. "I TOOK MASTER TIMOTHY AND ANNIE TO GOTHAMLAND BY THE SEA FOR THEIR FIRST DATE!" Alfred screams, his tone a combination of near sobbing and regret.

Upon hearing this, my eyes flew open, and my anger flared as I instantly switched to my Batman mindset. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" I roar, jumping straight off the bed and grappling Alfred by his collar. "I'm so sorry sir, but they're just so perfect for each other, and she isn't a monster like Clayface; I figured the right and noble thing to do was encourage this so Tim doesn't become as reclusive and hardened as the Batman!" Alfred shouts, mostly from fear since I was lifting him off the ground. Looking into his eyes, I realized that being physical was too harsh for a man who had been so honest and loyal to my family and me all these years, and promptly set him back on his feet. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you my friend, but what has gotten in your head?" I reiterate, baffled by Alfred's rebellious nature of late.

"Forgive me Bruce, but I believe that allowing this relationship is necessary considering what I've observed of Master Timothy's behavior since last year when Annie was supposedly murdered by Clayface until the other night when she came back" Alfred continues, his tone having regained his confidence and strength. This confused me. "What do you mean, what's wrong with Tim?" I yell, causing Alfred to flinch for a moment.

"Not what is wrong, what _was_ wrong sir; until last night, Master Timothy was quite deeply depressed" Alfred responds calmly. Hearing this caused my hardened gaze to soften, concern flowing through me at this revelation. "He…he was depressed?" I ask hesitantly, hoping I was hearing things. "Yes, he hid it well, but I happened to hear him one night in his sleep on my way to the restroom for a glass of water seven months ago. I heard his pain and lamenting over not being able to save Annie, it was slowly driving him mad with grief" Alfred explains. I suddenly felt guilty at not having been more aware of Tim's pain. "Alfred…why didn't you tell me?" I ask, wondering why my butler wouldn't alert me of such a dangerous predicament with my young ward. "Because the next day, I asked Master Timothy why he had kept this to himself. He said he didn't want to burden us and that it was his own problem to deal with, he also feared you wouldn't understand since you still never trusted Annie to begin with once you learned she was spawned of Clayface" Alfred continues. I then felt a pang of guilt, knowing that Robin kept suffering because of me. "I told Master Timothy that I would keep what I had learned between us, and that it was up to him to tell you his problems. But as you and I know, he never did, because you never changed" Alfred states stalwartly, this only served to further my guilty feelings.

"Even to this very day, you still cannot give that sweet girl a chance, despite the fact that you know how she sacrificed herself to save Robin that night at the chemical plant" Alfred spits, his tone laced with anger despite staying relatively calm. This was the breaking point, and I finally knew it was time to admit my problem. "(Sigh) You're right Alfred, I haven't been fair to Annie, she does deserve a chance. But that still doesn't change the fact that I'm furious about you letting those two go to an amusement park all by themselves, especially when one of them could attract Clayface if he escapes, not to mention that in their civilian identities they're even more vulnerable to attack if those escaped Arkham criminals happen to pull something off" I say gruffly, grabbing my robe off the back of the bedroom door as I head for the shower. "Master Timothy and I fixed a hearty breakfast earlier, would you like me to reheat some sausage and pancakes?" Alfred asks as I reach the restroom door. "Just a small serving, I need to head out to the amusement park after I'm showered and shaved" I reply as I pause for a moment to reply.

"But I thought you were going to give those two a chance, what happened?" Alfred asks with shock as I turn the knob and step in. "I'm am" I say casually. "Then why are you going to Gothamland to spy on them?" Alfred continues, his tone one of exasperation. "I'm not spying on them, I'm going there to keep them safe; virtually all the super villains in Arkham escaped just two nights ago, the streets aren't safe. I won't listen in on their conversations, I'm going to be using binoculars to just make sure they're not attacked" I explain quickly, then promptly slamming the door in Alfred's face. "Very well sir, but if you feel tempted to try and listen in, remember, you said you'd give them a chance!" Alfred yells from the hallway. After disrobing, I stepped into the shower and turned it on full blast.

_8:00 PM_

**Annie**

As we finished riding the carousel for the twentieth time, I laughed and hugged Tim once again. So far we'd ridden everything but the roller coaster and the Ferris wheel, and played more than half the games. Tim even rang the bell at the high striker game earlier and won me a large stuffed brown bear, and he was even nice enough to hold it for me, though it was far from necessary. I'd proven that when I got excited at seeing Tim play the game and decided I wanted to try it myself. The operator initially laughed at this, scoffing and claiming a little girl could never ring the bell. This apparently upset Tim, as upon hearing the taunt, he shouted for me to hit it as hard as I could. I did so, smiling and slamming the lever. Apparently I'd used too much though, because upon smashing the hammer down, the puck shot up like a bullet and pierced straight through the bell with a loud clang, and kept sailing into the clouds. Apologizing for breaking his game, I picked out a stuffed elephant for Tim and we went on our merry way, leaving the operator dumbfounded and slack jawed. At the moment, we were heading toward one of the snack booths so Tim could eat.

"This has been the best day I've ever had so far, and its been even better because of you Tim" I laugh, causing him to smile fondly. "Thanks, for me, this has been wonderful like you wouldn't believe" he replies, almost seeming sad as he said it. "What do you mean Tim?" I inquire, suddenly feeling worried. "Well though you might find it hard to believe, until today, I hadn't laughed since last year when I thought you had…well…been murdered by Clayface" Tim replies softly, his voice barely a whimper. I felt even more guilty at this revelation; because of my death, I'd caused Robin to feel pain every day. Seeming to sense my distress, he put his hand on my chin. "But it wasn't your fault, you did what you thought was right, and Batman is very grateful for that, as am I" he says, suddenly smiling again. As we reached the snack booth, the lights had already been turned on, as it was beginning to get close to sunset.

"Two Cheeseburgers, a large order of French fries, and two colas please" Tim asks the female attendant. "That will be $10.50" the young woman responds cheerfully. Fishing out his wallet, Tim withdrew a card with a black stripe, numbers, and the word "Visa" in-between a red and yellow pair of circles embossed across the front. "Whoa, you have your own credit card?" the woman asks, seeming to be in disbelief. Sliding his card through a scanning device, he smiled. "Debit card to be correct, less financial risks; cause even if someone manages to find a way to access my money, they can't rack up a huge debt since this one isn't allowed to withdraw more than what is available to my account" Tim explains as he pockets his card and wallet. "Still, that's impressive, you must have a good job if you have your own bank account" the woman replies, with what appeared to be slight jealousy.

"No, I just have a very rich dad, we're sorta rolling in the dough, and it hardly gets used by him anyways, so I get a big allowance" Tim says casually. Blinking, the woman appeared to be confused and slightly angered, and she slammed her fist down on the counter. "Then why the hell aren't you at your own personal playground like all the other rich snobs!" she snaps. "Cause we're not all stuck up jerks like you think, mull that over for a while, I got a date to return to" he says with a laugh as the cook brings him his food. Cradling his items carefully, he began to walk back toward me, leaving the woman very confused. "Lets sit over there Annie, try and keep as much distance from the grouch as possible" he says in a low voice, apparently so the woman wouldn't hear. Walking with him to the table farthest from the stand, he laid the food on the table. As we each took a seat, he then slid a cheeseburger over to my side.

"Go ahead, try it" he states encouragingly. I became confused, wondering why he was giving me food. "But Tim, I thought this was all for you; surely all the crime fighting you do requires a tremendous amount of calories" I counter, hoping he wasn't being serious about the request he'd given me. "No, I got the extra food so you can try some, its delicious stuff" he says, promptly biting into his burger upon finishing his reply.

"But Tim…I don't have a stomach, or taste buds" I say sadly, having read about the sensations of taste and flavor in those books earlier made me envious of real humans. With a light chuckle, Tim put down his burger for a moment. "Well then why not make them, you can alter your own body can't you?" Tim responds cheerfully, instantly biting back into his burger after the statement.

"(Gasp) Alter my own bio-physiological make up?" I yelp quietly. Tim put his food down again, seeming to have felt my distress from my tone. "Annie, you're a shape-shifter, why are you so afraid, isn't that the entire basis of your powers?" Tim asks, placing a hand on my left shoulder. "Its not that Tim, I know I can make a stomach and taste buds; its because I'm afraid that if I start using my powers, I'll become just like…_him_" I whisper, fearing of what might happen if I began to indulge in experimentation with my abilities. Taking a moment to process what I'd said, he Tim suddenly knew what I meant. "You mean Clayface?" he asks dubiously. I nodded silently, feeling a tear form and fall down my face, partially liquefying the part that it had slid down.

Suddenly feeling my hand being squeezed gently, I softly gasped, and saw Tim was gripping my hand daintily. "Annie…believe me, you could never be like Clayface, you're too sweet" he says kindly, smiling his beaming smile the whole time. Feeling perked up from his cheerful reinforcement, I smiled back, and fixed my face. "Besides, I trust you completely Annie, I know you can use your powers without letting it go to your head" he adds, further showing how incredibly generous and kindhearted he was. Now feeling curious about what food tasted like, and no longer feeling concerned over experimenting with my powers, I felt I probably should attempt to manipulate my body so I could possibly enjoy this food with Tim. Concentrating my mind, I formed a mental image of the detailed medical diagrams I'd seen of the structure for taste buds. I straining, I also recalled knowledge of rudimentary human genetic data I'd copied from what was left behind by Matt Hagen after his transformation to Clayface. Several minutes passed, then I suddenly felt my tongue growing tiny bumps and grooves, and I realized I'd accomplished something. "Tim, look in my mouth, tell me if I got it right please" I ask quietly, hoping I hadn't botched things up and covered it in hair or something else. Leaning over and peering in, Tim smiled.

"You got it right, you'll be able to taste now" he says with a big smile. Smiling back, I realized I'd need to make a stomach if I wanted to digest what I ate. "All I need to do now is make a stomach and I can join you" I say as I begin to concentrate once more. Following a similar plan to what I'd done before, I succeeded in creating a stomach chamber and created an esophagus to connect with my mouth. Seeing my eyes had reopened, Tim smiled. "Alright, now you've got the equipment needed to enjoy a good meal, go ahead, try your burger" he says, handing me the wrapped up sandwich. Upon removing the paper, I took a moment to look at it, and smell its aromas. The scents alone were incredible, and it looked so juicy. Finally, after several seconds of sniffing it, I took a bite.

I felt my head nearly explode inside from the sensations. I'd read well flavored foods were a powerful pleasure inducer for the brain, but I never imagined food would taste so…so… Yet as I tried to think of a way to express how incredible taste was, I failed to conceive of a description to accurately portray how it felt. Wondering if Tim might know of a way to help, I looked over and proceeded to asked him. "Tim, the sensation of taste is unbelievable, and I wanna try to convey my feelings to words, but I can't figure out what would describe it best without being overblown and long, do you have any suggestions?" I inquire, hoping he wouldn't find my request too odd.

Smiling, and letting out a quiet chuckle, Tim put down his burger again. "Is it that good you can't find a simple way to explain it?" he asks, still chuckling; the laughter puzzled me. "What's so funny, did I do something stupid?" I wonder, feeling foolish all of a sudden. Tim's laughter stopped dead in an instant. "No no! Its just, well, like most normal kids, I grew up with a fully developed sense of taste, so that part is innate. But it wasn't till I grew older and learned more words that I found ones to help describe the things I tasted. So, seeing you, having the sensation of taste for the first time in your life…even with all the words you seemed to have learned, you can't find any that pinpoint exactly what the experience of tasting feels like, that's just kinda cute how a simple carnival burger can make you so overwhelmed" he explains. This made me smile, realizing he wasn't critiquing me, simply feeling amazed by my request. "So can you help me find something to help me at least comprehend what I'm experiencing?" I continue, hoping he had some word to use.

"How about…awesome; doesn't it taste awesome?" Tim suggests, still smiling supportively. I quickly recalled the definition of awesome, and realized that to start, while I only had a rudimentary knowledge of the sensations of taste, it worked well for now. "Yes…it tastes awesome (giggle)" I reply, taking another bite of the juicy beef sandwich. As the meal went on, I tried the French fries as well, they were salty and oily, but extremely delicious. As we both munched on our fries and burgers, we also drank our colas. The dark, liquid concoction was very tingly, yet also sweet, and had a buzz to it that I liked. After another 10 minutes, we finally finished our food. "(Sigh) That was amazing, I can't wait to try other foods later" I say as Tim picks up the trash and tosses it into a nearby garbage can.

"Why wait? We still haven't had dessert yet" he says cheerfully. "Desert, why would we want to eat sand?" I ask, feeling confused, having recalled the definition of the word. Staring at me for a moment, Tim began laughing very hard, bending over and holding his stomach. "(Sigh) Oh Annie, that's the funniest thing you've said so far today; no, I'm talking about dessert, as in the sweet sugary foods you eat after the main course, not a desert!" he chuckles. I rechecked my list of words, and found the word he had used, and understood how I became confused. Desert and Dessert, were both pronounced the same. I quickly blushed upon realizing how ridiculous I'd sounded with my question about sand. Somehow sensing my distress, Tim grabbed my hand gently. "Don't worry, we all make mistakes, now come on, I want you to taste a food called Funnel Cake" he say as he grabs my hand and pulls me back toward the nearby food stand again. This time, the woman and the man who'd been cooking earlier had switched places, and he was now attending the register.

"What can I get you two lovebirds?" the man replies cheerfully. He was middle-aged, and quite plump, but very kind, and I sensed no underlying tones in his cheerful voice. "A large funnel cake with extra powdered sugar please" Tim states, pulling out his wallet and card again. "Ok then, that'll be $2.50 my good man" the man replies. Once again, Tim slid his card through the small machine and punched a four digit code in. "Alrighty then, your funnel cake will be ready soon; hey Alice, one large funnel cake for the lovely couple, on the double!" the man shouts cheerfully to the young woman. "I'm on it Bob" she replies, juggling several containers while she crowded around a small, silver machine. After about five minutes, a little box of colorful cardboard with wax paper under the dish was handed to Tim. "Here ya go kids, enjoy the rest of your evening" the man says cheerfully. Smiling at his kindness, I replied, "Thank you Bob and Alice"

Promptly, Alice gasped and jumped with shock; apparently she'd not been expecting to hear me. "Holy Crap! I thought you were mute" she pants, clutching her chest as she tries to calm down. "Alice, that was rude! See this is what the boy meant, you're too quick to judge, and even if you don't want to change that, at least be decent enough to keep your thoughts to yourself for Pete's sake" Bob says upon turning to face Alice. "I'm sorry about her behavior kids, she just started last week, she's still new at this. I'll straighten her out, don't you worry, now you go and have a merry time with the rest of the night" Bob apologizes as he turns back to face us. "Thanks Bob, we will" Tim says as he begins to lead me away, back toward the rides.

"So what do you want to do now?" Tim asks, looking at me with his warm smile once more. "Well we've ridden almost all the rides, but there's still some games I wanna try, why don't we go do those?" I suggest. "Sounds good to me" he replies, his steady grip wrapped around my hand. Breaking into a brisk run, we both laughed and thrust ourselves into the whirlwind of amusement once more.

**Bruce Wayne/Batman**

As I saw them running hand in hand, I smiled to myself, thinking that for once, I might have been dead wrong about my suspicions. Annie was just like a young innocent girl, far more innocent than how many girls her age acted nowadays. Having to waste time going to that gala earlier was slightly irritating, but Alfred reminded me how important it was for Bruce Wayne to make regular public appearances, both for hiding my identity as Batman, and so I could help aid the fight against crime and injustice publicly with my philanthropy. After arriving at 7:00 PM though, I found that my presence hadn't been necessary so far; Annie and Robin were just having decent clean fun, and no villains had appeared in this area so far. "Alfred, do you copy?" I say as I pull out my COM link.

"How goes your bodyguard duty sir?" he replies dryly. "Excellent, in fact, there hasn't even been one glitch so far; for once I genuinely believe you may have been right Alfred" I reply, smiling slightly as I watch Tim and Annie both playing the game where they shoot a mounted water gun to pop a balloon. "R-really sir? You're admitting I was right?" Alfred replies with shock. "Its not that hard to believe is it?" I ask jokingly. "From Bruce Wayne, not too hard, coming from Batman though…I'm beginning to question how well my ears work at my old age" Alfred laughs. "Well, while I admit you were right about it being safe for Tim and Annie to socialize, I still need to try and keep a watch out for their safety in case of one the Arkham inmates decides to show up" I continue, resuming my serious tone. "Very good sir, but I do hope nothing ruins their first date, that would be so disheartening for the morale of their relationship" Alfred says with a slightly upset voice. I began to frown, realizing what Alfred meant by that. "So do I Alfred-" I say despondently as I look back through the binoculars again, seeing the two kids cheering and hugging each other with joy. "-So do I"

**The Joker/Jack Napier**

Scowling visibly, I gritted my teeth upon having caught my eye on the one thing that could always be sure-fire to ruin my normally happy mood; BATMAN!

I'd pulled out my joker spyglass to see if I could find any rich suckers to pickpocket to make up for the profit I'd lost after having flopped so bad with the last crowd at the amphitheater that Harley and I were fired from the clown troupe. However, as luck would have it, even at an amusement park, you could always count on finding the Bat hanging around somewhere. "DAMN! I thought for sure this was one of the few places that flying rodent wouldn't check since they don't use traditional clowns here" I grumble as I observe the caped crusader standing in the shadows underneath the support structure of the Cormorant Comet Roller coaster. "Guess that means we can't take off our disguises tonight huh Puddin?" Harley says dejectedly. "Don't worry, Batman may seem superhuman, but even he has to sleep like the rest of us at some point or another" I chuckle as I observe my sworn nemesis using his own bat binoculars. Suddenly, I realized that his focus wasn't strafing around in a deliberate attempt to find me and the other escaped Arkhamites, but was focused on something else with a fixed gaze.

"Harley, it appears that Batman is observing something other than criminals tonight" I drone as I try to follow the direction Batman was observing in. "Really? That's not like the big guy; what could be more engaging than us?" Harley chirps. "I know…something is up, and I don't like the smell of it, come on Harley, we're going to see what has the Batman all excited!" I say as I pocket the spyglass. "Okie doke Mr. J!" she coos, grabbing her tote bag and following me as we sneak our way across the park to a vantage point closer to where Batman was perched beneath the roller coaster beams. "Alrighty! Lets see what our dark knight is staring at with such intensity" I proclaim aloud as I pull out my spyglass to look at Batman for a moment, then follow the direction his binoculars are pointed at. What I found shocked even me; here was my sworn nemesis, the scourge of every criminal in Gotham, spying on a pair of kids!

"Stalking children in the night! That's a new direction for the bat oaf" I blurt as I turn to relay my discovery to Harley. "Batman…a pedophile? Is that even possible? I mean sure the guy is weird, but…a sicko?" Harley muses, apparently not realizing how I viewed the revelation. "NO YOU IDIOT! Batman is not that kind of guy; if he was, I'd have a truly justifiable reason to hate him" I snap back, irritated by her lack of judgment. "No dear Harley, can't you see, he isn't stalking them, he's watching over them. I know how he thinks, he's observing them as if he fears someone might try to do something to them, or just doesn't want the chance to be there for any would be criminals targeting potential hostages" I explain as I take another look at the two children. "But why is he watching those particular kids right now? He can't observe everyone all the time can he?" Harley remarks. "Of course not, he is only human. Criminals could kidnap anyone as leverage to keep the cops or Batman at bay, so there must be a special reason why the bat jerk keeps looking after these two, but what?" I ask myself out loud as I ponder possible solutions.

"Maybe they're people the Batman is close to in his civilian identity!" Harley injects. Suddenly feeling the cogs in my head clicking, I knew she was on to something. "Harleykins, that's it! You found the explanation that knits all the facts together! Think about it, two seemingly ordinary civilians being guarded by the Batman, that's unusual, but two people close to Batman being watched by him explains it!" I yell, spinning around at having found a new weakness of Batman's to exploit. "Thank you Mr. J, so do you want me to take a snapshot of the two love birds?" Harley croons. "Yes indeed darling, I want to know more about our dark knight's mysterious kids" I reply as I rub my hands together, a delicious idea forming. Withdrawing a small digital camera, Harley got a well focused and candid pic of the young couple. Taking the camera and staring at the two holding hands, I smiled deviously. "When the kids are about…the clowns come out! AH HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAA!" I laugh quietly, so as not to alert Batman less than 100 yards away.

_10:30 PM_

**Tim Drake/Robin**

As we got in line for the last ride tonight, I held Annie's hand tightly out of excitement, and nervousness; what if she freaked out when I told her how I truly felt, what if she got angry or sad, what if…she doesn't want an ordinary guy like me? Shaking off the feeling of dread, I mentally scolded myself for being so doubtful, sure those things were all possible, but until I asked her the outcome remains indeterminable, just like Schrödinger's cat, right now the truth was neither alive nor dead, cause I couldn't read minds, guess I'll just have to wait and see once we finally get on the Ferris wheel in a few minutes. Smiling, I looked at her, realizing how lucky I was just to have someone as amazing as Annie even for a friend, hopefully, she'd also want more than just friendship. Finally reaching the front of the line, we flashed out day passes and got onto the seat. After several seconds, the ride started up.

"So how long is the ride Tim?" she asks with curiosity. "Fifteen minutes, and it's the slowest ride in the park" I reply cheerfully, feeling ready to spring the discussion on Annie once our seat reached the top. Curling up close to me, Annie sighed, "Tim…this has been an amazing day, you even helped me enjoy food. Those funnel cakes were delicious, and the rides were awesome" she says, recounting our day. I felt happy knowing she'd enjoyed herself. "But the best part, was having you with me" she continues, catching me off guard slightly. "Everything else could have gone wrong, even ended in disaster, and this day would have still been the best I've ever had since you're with me" she says, almost in a dreamlike state. Suddenly, she sat up, and her face seemed confused. "You know Tim…ever since I got out of Clayface, I've been thinking about you. In fact, it was only because of you I was able to escape. When the character called Livewire attacked, she shocked Clayface by sheer luck, and it was enough to create an opportunity for me to escape" she begins, causing me to stare in shock; I hadn't known this at all! "But I still wasn't strong enough at first, I couldn't break free. But then…I remembered you, how you fought so selflessly for me, even though you barely knew me and knew I wasn't human. That gave me enough strength to finally break free" she continues, my jaw nearly dropping as the ride stopped half way to the top, more passengers disembarking and then getting on. "Yet…here I' am, sitting beside you on a date, and I'm still nowhere near understanding why I constantly think about you so deeply and…longingly; why does my mind always wander to you?" she cries, her face seeming to portray she felt like tearing up from the frustration.

In that moment, I realized the incredible truth that had been hiding behind her face all this time. I wouldn't have to worry how she'd react to my feelings for her, she was already in love with me without even knowing it! All I had to do was try explaining the basic concept, and I'd probably get a guaranteeing seal for our relationship permanently! Gently putting a hand on her cheek, I held her chin in my hand and smiled. "Annie, I think I understand why you keep thinking about me" I start, causing her to look at me in earnest, as if relieved to hear someone might be able to explain her situation. "(Sniffle) you do? Please tell me" she replies, trying to keep herself from crying. With a nod, I decided it was now or never to get this done. "Do you know what love is Annie?" I begin, hoping she'd at least seen a crude definition in the book she'd read.

"N-not really, the dictionary I read said that there was no concrete definition for that word, that its true meaning couldn't be conveyed in words; what are you getting at?" she asks, proving I needed to provide a little description. "Well as best as words can explain, love is when two people feel a deep attraction between each other, and both of them care so deeply for their partner, the other would rather they take the pain and suffering of their partner, even die instead of seeing them be hurt. And when the other person's happiness is more important than their own" I explain. Annie nodded in response, but still had the confused look on her face. "Well I have a better concept of the meaning of love now, but that still doesn't explain why I keep thinking about-"

With one swift motion, I planted my lips on hers, cutting her off mid speech and shocking her more than anything else had ever surprised her. After several seconds of bliss, I broke the kiss, hoping she wouldn't hate me for what I'd done.

"-You…" she finishes, her face still in shock, and blushing fiercely, just like me. She kept staring at me, her eyes filled with amazement, joy, elation, curiosity, wonder, and fear, all at the same time. Struggling to find my voice, I somehow managed to resume speaking. "I love you Annie, I've loved you ever since we first met, that's why I was so depressed over the last year till that miracle last night, when you came back to me" I say as I hug her tightly, not wanting to let go, and hoping nothing would ruin this moment. Slowly pulling me off of her, Annie looked at me with that mixed face again. Then suddenly, she began to cry, but not bitter tears, just silent ones as she smiled the biggest and most genuine smile I'd ever seen her make before. Then, in a move I never expected from her, she flung herself on me and kissed me back with more fervor than my first kiss had been, and I returned the gesture by deepening the kiss. As our ride reached the top and stood still, we continued to kiss for several more minutes, until finally I needed air. Breaking off from my face, Annie hugged me tightly, still crying.

"Tim…you don't know how happy I' am, you just made me forget all the pain and worry I ever had. I think I'm beginning to understand what love means, I believe I love you too" she says softly, rising back up and kissing me again. Realizing I'd struck a treasure more valuable than all the gold in the world, I resumed kissing her. We kept our lips locked for the rest of the ride. Even after getting off the ride, I was barely able to break the embrace Annie had on me so I could call Alfred to pick us up. Once in the back seat, she resumed the kiss we'd had to break off so we could leave the amusement park. After several more minutes, Annie decided she'd had enough. But she still hugged me tightly around my chest. "Tim…thank you, you're the best guy in the world" she whispers in my ear. Smiling and hugging her back, I replied, "Well I'll do the best I can for you Annie"


	11. Chapter 11 Of Birds And Clay

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

A/N: NO FLAMING OR CRITICISM! It will not be justified or accepted. This is an Alternate Universe, character development beyond what the mainstream Batman can do is allowed because its another world. So if I see even one smack talk review about this chapter and the characterizations of Bruce Wayne, the one(s) responsible will receive a very mean spirited reply from me. Enjoy my latest chapter, sincerely, the author.

**Chapter 11: Of Birds And Clay**

**Annie**

The ride home with Tim was the best I'd ever had, I could feel my heart pounding, even though I didn't have one. Holding him now was like nothing else. But his lips…oh he was so unique, no food could compare to how he felt and tasted when we kissed. After kissing him virtually the whole ride home, Tim managed to get me to stop for the time being, so we could just sit together. Rolling up to the mansion entrance, Tim got out and opened my door all gentlemanly like. "(Giggle) Thank you, you're too kind" I laugh as I take his hand. As we walked up the stairs and entered the front door, we saw someone sitting in the chair by the fireplace. "Uh oh, this can't be good" Tim says quietly, as we stare at Batman. I felt nervous, I knew from copies of memories belonging to Matt Hagen that Batman could be incredibly scary and intimidating.

"Tim…we need to talk" Batman states with a solemn tone. With a gulp, we began the trek across the room toward him. "You sit in that chair young lady" Batman says, pointing to the chair sitting across from the one he sat in. I let go of Tim's hand and did as he commanded, worried of what he might do if I refused. Tim however was beckoned closer, until he stood right in front of the dark knight; how I hoped he wouldn't be upset with us.

**Tim Drake/Robin**

Now I knew I was in trouble, it was one thing when Bruce wanted to talk to me, but this tone was the one Batman uses; Batman wanting to talk was another thing entirely. "Sure, is there something you feel the need to discuss?" I begin, hoping I he hadn't found out about the date yet. Annie looked over at me, her face showing she was also thinking of the same fear as well.

"Yes, we need to talk about you and Annie dating" he states flatly.

Nearly choking on my own air, I began to cough, as I hadn't expected him to find out this so soo…wait a minute! Who was I kidding? Now it made sense; the jerk spied on us most, if not the whole day, and probably heard every word! I felt violated, and very angry, and this time I wasn't gonna take it quietly.

"BATMAN! HOW COULD YOU?" I scream, surprising my mentor, as his normally stern face actually showed worry and shock. "So you know…" Bruce replies, his face showing a small amount of guilt. "YEAH, PRETTY OBVIOUS, HOW ELSE COULD YOU HAVE FOUND OUT! I asked you about the date idea earlier this morning cause I figured you'd still be half-asleep and not really paying attention. But noooo, I forgot, you're Batman, world's greatest detective, AND WORLD'S NOSIEST DAMN SNOOP AS WELL!" I scream, causing Annie to gasp, as she realized why I was so mad.

"He doesn't trust me…I knew it, I guess I couldn't expect to be trusted since my father is one of your greatest adversaries" she says quietly, as she began to sniffle. This really upset me; apart from probably being embarrassed deep down that Batman had seen us kiss on the Ferris wheel, she now truly felt ostracized from everyone else, and that made me furious. "SEE WHAT YOU'VE DONE YOU ASS? THANKS TO YOUR DISTRUST AND PARANOIA, ANNIE IS CRYING, AND SHE HAD JUST STARTED TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT HERSELF!" I rage, venting all my fury on the guy who needed to understand boundaries most on this entire planet, my boss.

Sighing deeply, he hung his head, as if in defeat, but I knew better than that, he was probably thinking of a good comeback. "Tim, you would have every right to be upset with me…if I had said you're not allowed to be around Annie by yourself ever again" Bruce say calmly. This took me by surprise.

"Wait…you mean you weren't about to ban me from spending time with Annie?" I ask hesitantly, unsure if I'd heard correctly. "Yes, I wanted to talk with you because I had something very different to say" Bruce says as he gets out of the chair. Annie and I both exchanged a quick glance at each other, and found ourselves feeling very baffled. "Annie, come here" Bruce says, beckoning my girlfriend over to him. Tentatively shuffling over to the dark knight, Annie bit her lip and began to shake. "Y-yes Batman?" she asks quietly as she stands before the stalwart and imposing figure. What happened next, seemed to defy all logic; in a move I never would expect my mentor to do even if a gun was pointed to his head, he knelt down and _hugged_ Annie!

"Thank you Annie" he says, continuing to embrace her. Annie seemed surprised as well, unable to process the events happening, I couldn't blame her, this kind of behavior is so…out of character, even for Bruce, he'd never been this open emotionally before, even me. "I want you to stay here, with Tim" Bruce says calmly. "But…but I thought that…you don't trust me Batman, why do you want me to stay now?" Annie inquires quietly. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he looked her in the eyes and smiled. "You're a good influence for Tim, he needs you" my mentor says quietly. "I wish I'd given someone like you a chance back when I was young, maybe then…I wouldn't be such a bitter and withdrawn man" Bruce replies, causing my jaw to drop. "By the way, I do trust you now, and my real name…is Bruce Wayne" he says with a genuine smile, holding his arms open to accept a hug.

**Annie**

So much had happened tonight, but surprisingly, this was harder to believe than kissing Tim. Here I was, connecting with Batman's young ward, falling in love with him, and out of the blue, he suddenly goes from hating and distrusting me, to out right accepting me as a member of his family. However, I realized that this was indeed something special, so I couldn't possibly resist hugging him. Abandoning all worries, I flung myself onto Bruce and began to cry. "Thank you…you don't know how much it means to me to have a family, to be truly loved" I choke as my face begins to run. Bruce kept hugging me, showing a side of the Dark Knight I didn't even know existed. "You may find it hard to believe, but I do know how you feel. Its taken me decades, but I finally have been able to break the hard shell that coated my heart since my parents died" Bruce says calmly.

"Bruce…you're crying" Tim blurts, causing me to break the hug so I can see this for myself. Surely enough, the man I once feared would turn me into a puddle with some chemical concoction, was indeed silently leaking tears. "I' am?" he says, almost as if he hadn't realized it. "Indeed sir, it's the first time I've seen you cry in years" Alfred says as he suddenly walks in, still adorned in his chauffer outfit. "Alfred, you won't believe what Bruce just did" Tim says ecstatically. "Not hard to guess Master Timothy; he completely ignored our talk from earlier, forbid you and Annie from seeing each other ever again, and secretly hates himself for being so hard and heartless" Alfred drones as he picks up a pot of tea from the nearby table and begins to pour himself a cup. "No…actually, something far different; he just said he approves of my relationship with Annie" Tim replies happily.

With a loud yelp Alfred dropped the cup and tea pot and fell over backwards. This made me wonder what was going through Alfred's mind to make him become so shocked by the recent events. "Goodness Gracious! Are you serious? I was certain Master Bruce would ignore my latest emotional advice as he always does" Alfred says as he clambers to his feet hurriedly. "Are you serious? You both really believed he was never going to-"

"Absolutely" Tim and Alfred says in unison.

"Bruce, were you seriously considering forbidding us from seeing each other?" I ask in disbelief, feeling upset upon learning of this information. Sighing, Bruce looked me in the eyes and said, "Yes"

"I was indeed thinking of doing that…until I saw how happy you make him" Bruce says solemnly. I was about to voice my pain over his harsh and thoughtless plan he'd considered, but his reply broke that apart like glass. "You…you saw the happiness?" I ask tentatively. Alfred and Tim had leaned in with anticipation. "Yes, even before you realized exactly how happy you make him, before the kiss" Bruce says with a smile. "Seeing you do that to Tim, making a child with a past like his, smile the way I saw him smile…it just, made me realize how lucky he is to have someone like you. The fact that you're a meta human or the spawned detachment of Clayface means nothing now, I know the truth, no one evil could ever make Tim as happy as you do" Bruce explains with a smile as he takes my hand and gives it a soft squeeze.

Overwhelmed by this sudden change of character and heart, I hugged Bruce once again. "Thank you-" I begin, pausing to prepare myself for my next move. Then, reorganizing my semi-liquid form, I mirror flipped myself and ran to Tim, hugging him too. "-And thank you most of all Tim, for giving me a reason to live" I say as I kiss his cheek lovingly. Tim instantly blushed heavily at this treatment. "Thanks Annie, I'm glad I mean so much to you" Tim says softly as we hug each other.

**The Joker**

"The esteemed estate of Wayne Manor, home to Playboy Millionaire Bruce Wayne; seems an odd place for the Bat to visit, the two are completely different people" I say as I approach the twelve foot fence. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out one of my Electric Joy Buzzers and put it near the fence, nothing happened. But I knew that didn't mean squat. Flipping a button on the underside of the buzzer, I switched the charge from negative to positive. This time when the buzzer neared the surface, a miniature bolt of lightning zapped between the surfaces. "AHA! Electric fences, just as I suspected; Mr. Wayne has something to hide, I bet he's in cahoots with Batman, probably gives him all his gadgets or something. Harleykins, the acid if you please?" I ask my spandex spun partner.

"Sure thing Mr. J!" she chirps happily. Plunging into the bag of tricks, she pulled out one of my squirting flowers and handed it to me. "Now we'll find out the truth about this mysterious connection between Batman and Bruce Wayne" I say with a chuckle as I spray a squirt and melt a hole big enough for me and Harley to crawl through. Immediately after squeezing through, we made a mad dash for the side of the house, away from any doors. "Alrighty then, time for team work; Harley, give me a boost please" I ask her with a toothy grin. "Ok, do you want me to give you the spring shoes or the pogo stick?" she asks cheerfully. "Wha…NO! I said give me a boost, not a toy! They make too much noise, use your hands and help give me a lift up to the windowsill with your muscles" I explain, causing her smile to flip to a frown.

"Mr. J I'm a gymnastic type figure, not Ms. Universe! You're not exactly all that light, can't we use a rope or something else besides-"

"HARLEY! Lift me now!" I scream in a hushed whisper. She stopped arguing upon seeing my scowl. "Yessir Mr. J sir!" she replies rapidly. After several minutes of struggling, she managed to get me high enough that I could reach the partially open window. Pushing it up all the way, I climbed in. "Finally, now give me your hand" I say to the now panting Harley Quinn. With a few twists of my arms, I yanked her inside as well.

"I've always wanted to rob Mr. Wayne, but knowing he keeps most of his greens in vaults overseas somehow deterred my interest, I'd forgotten most rich folks have valuable art and decorative baubles" I say as I notice all the tasteful portraits, sculptures, vases, and animal skin rugs. "But that will have to wait, for now we must learn what connection Bruce Wayne has with Batman" I say with a wicked smirk. Artfully dodging cameras, we managed to find Bruce Wayne and his friends in the main room. I heard their mindless prattle, something about love and friendship and trust. I decided I'd go over the whole conversation later, as I had actually remembered my Joker Recorder this time, and I was capturing every word on its tape. However what really intrigued me, was the constant mention of Batman when the girl and boy talked to Bruce Wayne. It was almost as if…

"No" I mutter, nearly blurting out as the realization of the possible truth hit me. "Mr. J, what's wrong?" Harley asks worriedly. "Harley, we must follow them, I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I have a sinking feeling I'm not" I whisper with a rushed voice. "Wrong about what?" she asks as we stealthily but recklessly sneak around and follow Bruce Wayne and his friends as they strode down the halls. After several minutes, they reached an ordinary Grandfather Clock on the wall. Then, they pulled the pendulum like a handle and the wall slide open revealing a hidden doorway; this did not bode well, my suspicions were getting stronger with each passing second. As quietly as we could, we followed them down a winding case of stone stairs, until we reached…

"It-it can't be…we're in-"

"That's right Harley…the Bat Cave" I say with a combination of shock, awe, and dread, as I realized this was another indicator that Bruce Wayne could possibly be.

"I'm surprised that you keep this secret so well hidden Bruce, who'd actually think that you're the Dark Knight?" the girl says cheerfully.

At that moment, I felt my heart break into a trillion pieces and I slumped to the floor.

"Mr. J! What's wrong?" Harley whisper-yells.

"It's all been a lie…the mighty Batman, my fiercest rival, my greatest adversary, my whole reason for living…is nothing but the fancy costume and fabricated persona of a rich millionaire playboy who has too much free time on his hands" I weep, feeling my world crashing down around me. As I felt myself begin to black out from the soul crushing misery, Harley somehow managed to grab me and begin dragging me out of the Bat Cave. Just before I lost consciousness, I heard her whisper, "Mr. J, you need serious help"


	12. Chapter 12 Frowning Joker, Smitten Annie

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

**Chapter 12: Frowning Joker, Smitten Annie**

**Annie**

"And that's why I began to fight crime, to create a world where no child will ever have their parents taken from them by a petty thief with a gun" Bruce states as he wraps up his origin. Having heard Tim's much shorter but equally inspiring past as well, I now knew that even people with bad or tragic histories could be heroes too.

"So, what kind of people were your mom and dad, Bruce?" I asked tentatively. "Would you like to see them?" Bruce asked with a small grin. Feeling a bit confused I blinked. "But I thought that-"

"Ah, Master Bruce, I understand" remarked Alfred, "If you would follow me miss Annie" Curious, I followed right behind Alfred. "Wait! I'll come too" exclaimed Tim. He looked just as eager as I felt running towards me and Alfred. Just seeing him smiling made me happy.

"Hold on a moment Tim" Bruce says. Tim managed to stop with a skid and almost lost his balance. "I need you to stay and discuss something important with me" Bruce explained in a serious tone. "Oh…I guess you'll have to go on ahead" replied Tim with a look of disappointment on his face "But I'll come right up to see you after I'm done, ok Annie?" Tim stated looking eager for it, whatever 'it' was, to be done soon.

"Ok Tim, I'll be waiting to see you" I said. This made him turn a new shade of red, but I could tell by his grin that he was happy with what I'd said. I followed Alfred out of the Bat Cave and into a large room with a marble fireplace.

"Here we are miss Annie, meet Mr. and Ms. Wayne" Alfred pointed to a large picture over the fireplace. In it, I saw two people who looked familiar, though I didn't know why even when I knew I hadn't seen them before. I looked at the man and woman carefully, thinking it was odd, when I realized that the man looked like Bruce! He had the same face shape as the man, but the same color eyes as the woman. I remember that in one of dictionary books I had read, it had explained the way heredity worked and how parents had certain genes that carried on to their children. So this was what parents look like. The woman, who I knew was Bruce's mom, had a gentle look in her eyes and smiling mouth, one that I had seen not 20 minutes ago on Bruce Wayne's face. Bruce's dad was also smiling, and had a strong presence, like when Batman is around, only not as scary. I wished I could meet them, then I could know them better.

"Oh dear, is there anything the matter Miss Annie?" Alfred inquired with a look of worry on his face. I didn't understand what he meant until I realized that I was crying and melting slightly. Feeling embarrassed, I quickly reformed my cheeks and replied, "I'm fine Alfred, I was just thinking how much Bruce looks like his parents, and that I'm glad that I don't have to look like my "father" at all"

"I'm so sorry that your "father" has to be so evil, I wish he'd understand how much he's hurt you by being wicked" Alfred says as he bends down and hugs me warmly. Hugging him back, I smiled warmly. "Thanks Alfred, that means a lot; so could you tell me what Bruce's parents were like?" I ask softly. "Indeed, Thomas Wayne was the founder of Wayne Enterprises, and it has quickly become one of the largest companies in the world" he begins, causing my curiosity to accelerate.

**Tim Drake/Robin**

"Batman I know its risky taking her outside the mansion, but that's why I want you to make her an official ID, she isn't a slave" I argue, after having been denied constantly. It had started out as him saying that though he approves of our relationship, he wasn't wanting her to leave the premises anymore. Several times, I tried suggesting that he create some kind of identity for her new life in America. "Tim, don't you understand? Batman is a vigilante, any kind of ID I make might be convincing, but it would be a fake just like the kind that punks get forged to go into night clubs. She'd be found out eventually Tim" he says sternly.

"Then what about Bruce? Doesn't he have connections in congress and stuff? Couldn't he get something done?" I plead. He was about to argue, when suddenly his face flipped from frowning to smiling. "You know you're right, I could do that, I'll contact Senator-"

We were promptly interrupted by the beeping of the Bat Computer, causing me to groan; why did criminals ALWAYS strike just when things were starting to get good? Quickly rushing to the area we kept out costumes, we donned them and I ran upstairs to inform Annie.

**The Joker**

"(Deep moan) Bartender, hit me again!" I slur lazily. "Sir, you've already had 12 shots, I'm going to need to see some money before I set you up again" the bartender replies, his words very garbled due to the amount of alcohol clogging my veins. Nonetheless, I heard what he said, and I didn't like it. Smashing the counter and pulling out my joker gun, I pointed it at the barkeep. "Now you listen here you ba-bastard, I'm the clown prince of cri-crime, and I only pay for satisfying and good booze; your cheap dreck is not worth fuck!" I scream drunkenly.

"Whoa man…keep it cool, I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry" the young man pleads. "I ought to kill you right no-(belches) now for being such a smartass, loser" I say as I keep the pistol trained on his face. "Please man, I got a girl, we're gonna get married soon, please don't kill me!" he pleads. As I prepared to pull the trigger, I imagined the look on the dark knight's face when he learned of this and-

Then I remembered, all the wonders of my arch rival were gone, he wasn't a real hero, just an over stocked rich boy with some martial arts training and familiarity with my work. There was no Batman, only Bruce Wayne the Bachelor. I felt my eyes water up and my grip on the gun loosen, remembering that all I'd lived for was now gone, and that everything had been a lie. So I did the only thing I could do, I began to bawl uncontrollably.

"BA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAA! WHY BATMAN, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DO THIS TO ME! I'M A WREHEHEHEEEEECCCKKKKKK!" I sob as I drop the gun and fall face first onto the bar counter.

"Aw come on puddin, its not the end of the world; just because you know who Batman is doesn't mean everything is ruined" Harley states, barely hearing it from my hammered state.

"Hold on there!" a gruff voice growls, as a tall man in a trench coat walks over. Recognizing the stench of Killer Croc, I groan.

"Did I hear right, you know the secret identity of the Batman?" he asks incredulously, his voice fading in and out due to the liquor in my veins.

"Yesssss!" I yell, slurring heavily as I prop myself up on my elbows, the entire bar getting my attention. "I knowww the man behind the mask! The bastard who ruined my happy criminal career, his name is Bru…" I start, and suddenly slip right into a blackout.

**Harley Quinn**

Watching my dear Joker hit his head on the stool as he slipped onto the floor, I winced, he was gonna feel that in the morning. "Alright twinkle toes, spill it, whats Batman's secret identity?" Killer Croc yells as he grabs me by my suit's collar. Seeing the look in his eyes, I was about to talk, but then remembered how much scarier my man was; The Joker was never one to cross unless you want to wind up in a body bag with a permanent Cheshire grin.

"Nuh uh! I'm not spilling this secret without explicit say so from my puddin, he might skin me alive if I let it out. This secret has made him a wreck, there's no telling how he'll react if all the villains learn who Batman is" I say as I gently pry the gator-like man's fingers from my outfit. Killer Croc snarled lightly, but having had experience with The Joker before, he knew I was right.

"Well dear, we can still guess can't we?" the Mad Hatter asks with a smile. Following behind him were Poison Ivy, The Scarecrow, The Riddler, Scarface, Roxy Rocket, and Two-Face. "I say we toss the coin, Good Heads, we have to guess the secret" Two-Face says gruffly. With the signature clinking noise, he flicked it high into the air. "Bad Heads…you gotta spill the secret or we shoot you and Mr. Happy" he says, finishing his sentence the instant he catches the coin. With a gulp, I nodded, knowing that either way, the worst Mr. J could do to me was shoot me like these thugs planned.

As he flipped the coin onto his opposite hand, he snarled. "Its your lucky day Harley, good heads, we have to guess fellows" Two-Face says with a grunt. "Why do you always leave everything to chance? I dare say it makes as much sense as telling a horse in a race to prance" Mad Hatter groans.

Pointing a gun in his mouth, Two-Face snarls. "It's the only thing that's fair and truly unbiased, chance; good, evil, rich, poor, strong, weak, kind, cruel, all are treated fairly with chance, none have any advantage over the other when its random, are we clear bright eyes?" Two-Face growls as he cocks the trigger. Nodding frantically, the Mad Hatter began to scream muffled agreements into the gun barrel, prompting Two-Face to remove it. "Well then, I guess we're going to have to wait for the Bat to show and then tail him" Roxy says as she does a back-flip toward the exit. "We'll figure it out, some day" Killer Croc snaps as he leaves too. "When I find out who Batman is, I'll show him what true fear is" Scarecrow cackles as he jumps out of the bar maniacally. "A'right youse mugs! Lets move it! We gotta unmask the cowl of a soitent flying rat!" Scarface yaps, causing his two big henchmen to come running. "Y-You heard Mr. Scarface, off we go" the cowardly Arnold drips as he carries the dummy out of the bar with Rhino and Mugsy. "Enjoy being the sole secret holders while you can, we'll learn his identity one day Harley" Two-Face says as he leaves with the Mad Hatter. Left with me and my blacked out man, were The Riddler, and Poison Ivy.

"Secret or not hun, I do think we ought to stick with you, everyone needs a few supporters, isn't that right Riddler?" Ivy asks as she traces a finger across his chin. "For the sake of the riddle's answer, near the source I shall linger, we need to have a chat with The Joker once he wakes up" Edward says with his usual bubbly voice. "Well that might be a while guys, Puddin is soused to the gills, it may well be at least till morning when we can talk to him" I say worriedly, he'd never drank this much alcohol before. "Well we'd better get him to a room and prop him up on his side, or he might choke on his own vomit, he's drunk himself into that dangerous position" Poison Ivy says as he lifts up his head to move his eyelids and check his reflexes.

"Well then lets go, um, where is your hiding place?" Edward asks as he begins to pick up the Joker under his armpits. "As if I'd tell you! Just help me get Puddin into the car, then you're gonna be blindfolded before I drive us to the hideout, Batman is too good at interrogation, if you know, he could learn it from you if you're caught" I say fiercely, having learned that the hard way. "We understand, Batman is still a very big issue currently" Pamela says with a knowing nod. "Indeed, that accursed bat always shakes down the criminal underworld and finds his quarry" Edward says as we all carry The Joker to the Jokermobile. Five minutes later, we were inside an abandoned chemical factory that Joker had made as an emergency hideout months before we were caught and sent to Arkham.

"I say we see what the word is on repairs to Arkham, until the damages are fully repaired they can't keep supervillains locked up there, I want to see how long it will be before any of us can be sent back to the clink" I chirp as I grab a nearby remote from a table. Immediately, the news channel flared to life, and the words "Venomous Rampage Downtown" were splashed across the screen. "Turn it up, I'm interested in whats going on" Edward says as he twirls his cane.

"This is Summer Gleeson, live from downtown Gotham, we're in the midst of a horrible destructive spree by none other than the infamous Bane, a madman who uses a chemical steroid concoction called Venom to give himself superhuman strength. So far all attempts to stop him have been-AAH!"

Having wrested the microphone from her hand and tossed her aside, Bane stared into the camera with a blood thirsty look in his eyes. "That's enough from you reporter, I know you are watching this Batman, and I hereby dare you to come and stop my reign of terror, otherwise-" Bane starts, as he grabs Ms. Gleeson by her neck with his huge meaty arm. "-I'll snap her neck like a twig, and that's just to be the beginning of my wrath. Be here within the hour, or her and more start dying!" Bane spits as he grabs the camera and crushes it with his hand, ending the transmission.

"I'm glad we aren't downtown right now, did you see what he's done to the place? It's a regular disaster zone!" Riddler says, nearing panic. "Don't worry, its not like he'd kill us" Pamela says dismissively as she reads a paper. "Well I just hope Jokey poo wakes up soon, he'll wanna go see this in person" I say as I stroke his hair, his body sprawled out on the couch.

**Annie**

Having heard the news and seen the report, I begged them to let me come and help, but despite Tim's added pleading, Bruce still refused. So minutes later, the Batmobile roared out onto the road and into the heart of Gotham without me.

"It's not fair, how can I possibly step out of the shadow of Matt Hagen's villainy unless I can go be a hero?" I ask Alfred as I sit in a chair despondently. "Well, normally I don't advise to go against Master Bruce's wishes, but I agree, you do need to start helping people" Alfred states as he sets down the tray and begins to pour a cup of his favorite drink. "He does have a point though, according to the government, officially, I don't exist, so how could I go fight crime without causing an uproar?" I mutter out loud to myself.

"Perhaps, if you had a secret identity, then maybe…that's it! Annie, you are a shape-shifter, just create a form suited for battle and go aid them" Alfred says with a smile.

"You really think I can do it?" I reply excitedly, feeling hope build up inside.

"My dear, you helped make Batman smile today, you've already done the impossible, you can certainly make a battle form with your powers" Alfred says as he squirts a lemon wedge over his refreshment.

"Yes, I'll do it, I must go to fight Bane" I declare, knowing it was the right thing to do.

"Believe me, they will need you, I can tell, that Bane fellow looked a lot stronger from the last time I saw him" Alfred replies as he sips some tea.

"Ok (takes a deep breath) here I go" I announce, as I begin to grunt and attempt to alter my form. To my great surprise, I felt my body slightly liquefy, and the changes began to take place at will, I could feel my body changing and increasing as cells were replicated and altered, my entire form metamorphosing. After five minutes of customizing, I turned around to get an opinion from the kindly butler. "Well Alfred, what do you think?" I inquire, hoping he'd approve.

"Good heavens! Miss Annie, that will do marvelously; now go out there and help Bruce and Tim post-haste!" Alfred says proudly. Nodding, I walked out the front door and shifted my body into a mechanized wheel, then began to roll at high speeds toward Gotham.

**Bruce Wayne/Batman**

As Bane threw cars at us, Robin and I dodged with ease, but knew a direct assault was out of the question, which was bad news, because Bane's latest improvement to his venom supply caused a major problem.

"Batman, It is no use, my new steel lined tubes make your Batarangs worthless! Only a high powered energy beam or projectile with sufficient force can chop these" Bane declares cockily. Snarling, I knew he'd pinned us down for the moment.

"Batman, what are we gonna do?" Robin asks worriedly.

"Don't worry Robin, there is always a way to win, we just need some reinforcements" I say as I pull out my Bat communicator. However, a split second later, Bane had grabbed me by my throat.

"Ah ah ah Batman, that's not allowed, I'm taking away your toy and giving you a time-out" Bane says teasingly as he takes my communicator with his free hand and crushes it. "Face it Batman, you've lost, tonight I will break you, and none of you can stop me!" he declares as he holds me up for the reporters to see.

"Maybe they can't, but I can!" a female voice says from up the street.

"What? Who said-OOOF!" Bane starts, until something crashes into his chest at incredible speed, allowing me to wriggled out of his grip as he falls onto his back.

"Batman, what was that? The voice, it sounded a lot like-"

"Bane, prepare to feel the wrath of Gotham's newest Superheroine, Claydoll!" a brown red wheel with a face says as it begins to change form into a large female Clayfacesque being. "Batman, is that Annie?" Tim asks in a hushed voice as he walks over to me.


	13. Chapter 13 The Magnificent Claydoll!

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

**Chapter 13: Introducing, The Magnificent Claydoll!**

**Tim Drake/Robin**

As I looked closer at this new arrival to the field of battle, I began to stutter. This girl was very large in build, yet she had all the curves of a female, and the soft features of my girlfriend. Wait, I was right, the feminine clay being before us was indeed Annie! "I thought I told you to stay back in the Batcave" Bruce says angrily, his glare forcing Annie to walk over and explain herself.

"Batman, you said Annie had to stay home due to security reasons. But Claydoll is a secret identity who can move about freely like you can, and from what I just saw, you need me in this fight, badly" she replies matter of factly. With a growl, Batman gave up, he knew it was impossible to argue with a teenage girl, er…well, clay girl, anyways, he knew what she was like, it was one of the few battles he couldn't win.

"Alright, you can stay, but if you're going to be involved in my fights, you'll do as I say, got it?" Batman replies firmly. Standing at attention, Annie saluted him. "Yes sir Batman sir!" she replies obediently.

"Good, now the key to defeating villains like this is either outsmarting them, or tripping them up, brute force rarely works here unless you're like Superman, only guys with his kind of power can one up Bane's strength. So Annie, I want you to immobilize Bane, encase him in your sludge so we can get close enough to laze off his venom tubes" Batman explains, earning a look of understanding from Annie.

"Got it, but call me Claydoll in the field, so the reporters won't be able to pick up on any clues" she replies with a smile.

Smirking back, Batman nodded. "Alright "Claydoll", lets see if you deserve that title" he states as we all turn to face Bane, who had just begun to sit up after his crash encounter with Annie.

**Annie/Claydoll**

Looking more closely at Bane, I began to have second thoughts; sure I was living clay and unharmable from most all physical blows, but his sheer musculature from all that venom was making me nervous, maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea. "Don't worry Annie, this will be a snap with you here" Tim says as he looks at me with a smile. I noticed how calm he was, and suddenly realized it was because I was here! "Guys like Bane are loads of fun to tease and torment, they fly into a blind rage to the point they can't even see their hands in front of their face they're so mad, we'll make sure to distract him so you can sneak up and ensnare him in your clay" he continues, showing complete confidence in my abilities.

I was speechless, Tim didn't just trust me with his heart, he even trusted me with his safety, he really believed I would pull through for him, for everyone. "I'll make you proud guys, I'll show you I'm a true hero" I reply with a smile, as I begin to focus on the hulking brute known as Bane.

"So you have a new partner Batman? Very well, I'll break her too!" Bane shouts as he twists a dial on one of his gauntlets, causing more venom to flood his system and his muscles to bulge even bigger. Unleashing a primal roar, Bane grabbed the tractor unit of a nearby overturned Semi-Trailer, and lifted it over his head.

"I'LL SQUASH YOU ALL LIKE ROACHES!" he roars with mad blood-thirsty glee. Realizing that he didn't know I was made of the same material as Clayface, I knew right then that this was the perfect plan.

"Guys, I'm gonna let Bane dump that on me so he thinks I got squashed" I whisper to Batman and Robin. "What! Claydoll, you can't, that thing weighs at least 5 tons if not more" Tim argues panickedly. "No, she's right, it's the perfect foil, Bane doesn't know exactly what Claydoll is, so this is the best way to make him completely drop his guard against a sneak attack; besides, Claydoll is immune to having objects dropped on her, its like throwing a bowling ball at pudding, totally harmless to her" Batman counters, oddly in my favor. Hard to believe that I already had the approval of my plan from the Dark Knight.

"SAY GOOD BYE BOY WONDER!" Bane laughs as he begins to thrust the tractor unit on top of Robin's head.

"ROBIN WATCH OUT!" I shout convincingly, as I push him out of the way. An instant later, the pile of metal smashed over my head and squashed me into a pile of goo, where I slowly formed an eye through the scrap metal to watch Bane for an opening.

"So much for the pottery girl, HA! Now to finish you two off" he snarls as he begins to rush after the heroic duo. Dodging his blows nimbly, Batman and Robin deftly defied his every attempt to crush them. After nearly twenty seconds of dodging, Batman pulled out some small orbs and tossed them into Bane's face, where they exploded in a brilliant flash of light.

"AAAGGHHH! MY EYES!" he howls, clutching his face from the blinding glow.

"Now Claydoll, wrap him up!" Batman orders, giving me the signal he was vulnerable Not hesitating, I leapt from the wreckage and stuck to him like glue, coating every inch of his body with my sludgy form.

"What the fuc…YOU! You're Clayface!" Bane scowls as he futilely tries to move as I continue to harden and seep into his Venom systems, removing the steady inflow of his steroid concoction as I crush and snip the systems that feed it.

"Don't you ever associate me with that monster! I' am Claydoll, a hero, a force of good, not a murderous madman!" I snap, as I cut off his air, causing him to finally black out after a minute. Spitting out his limp body, Batman walks over and snaps on a pair of cuffs, removing the last of his venom equipment.

"Way to gum up the works Ann…I mean Claydoll" Tim says cheerfully, his pun making me giggle. Before I could reply though, the reporters swarmed over us like flies, cutting off our escape for the moment. As the questions fired off like a machine gun barrage, Batman became very agitated and screamed.

"Will you vultures just leave us alone! We're not like Superman or other heroes, we don't give press statements!" he says angrily, firing his grapple gun off to a nearby building and zipping away.

"He can speak for himself, I totally wanna tell the media about our new partner, come on Claydoll!" Tim says excitedly as he drags me into the field of journalists and reporters.

"People, please, settle down, this can go two ways; one, you all calm the hell down so we can hear ourselves think and we'll stick around to give some comments and answers, two, you keep pestering us like that and we're gonna go right on our merry way and not give you folks a word to go on" he says calmly, pulling out a grappling gun to emphasize his point. Immediately they all fell deathly quiet. "Good, now where's Summer Gleeson, the reporter for Gotham News?" he asks pleasantly.

"Right here, before we go live, I just want to say thanks again for saving my life from that monster Bane" Ms. Summer says as I twist my head 180 degrees to watch the police gather up Bane and cart him away to an ambulance. Turning my head back in time to catch Ms. Summer clearing her throat and facing the camera, I noticed Tim was acting very confident about something.

"Good evening Gotham and welcome to a special late evening report, live from downtown, where less than an hour ago, the supervillain known as Bane went on a rampage, causing over one hundred million dollars in damages. Fortunately, the efforts of Batman and Robin thwarted the criminal's plans and-"

Squeezing into the shot, Tim held up his hands in a "time-out" fashion, cutting off Ms. Summer. "Sorry Ma'am, but I'm afraid that's a mistake, you see, the way the battle was going, before too long we would have either had to retreat or face defeat at the hands of Bane, who reinforced his venom tubes with steel, making it impossible for us to use our batarangs to cut. We were about to lose" he says solemnly.

"So the new and improved Bane was too mighty for the Dark Knight and Boy Wonder to take down?" Ms. Summer asks incredulously. Seeing all the reporter's faces frown at that statement, it appeared that most of Gotham was counting on Batman to save them from Bane.

"No, if we'd known Bane had upped his defenses, we would have come better prepared, but the truth is, Batman and I only go into most battles prepared for 95 percent of all probable outcomes, unless said situation involves the Joker, then we leave nothing to chance" Tim says defensively.

"So Bane just caught you off guard this time. However, it seems he wasn't going to give either of you a chance to retreat, meaning you both could have suffered permanently crippling or lethal injuries, Bane does have super strength" Ms. Summer says with concern.

"Yes, that's true, this very well could have been our last battle, however, while you were all cowering behind the corner, our new partner came and saved all your collective asses" Tim retorts as he grabs my hand and pulls me into view of the broadcast. Realizing what I was meant to do just before I got into the camera's line of sight, I smiled and posed dramatically with my hands at my hips.

"Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Gotham's newest heroine, the Magnificent Claydoll!" I say as I focus my body and form raised letters spelling the name across my stomach.

Immediately the floodgate burst, and an ocean of requests for quotes and statements swamped me from the dozens of news hounds. "Ok ok! One at a time! I'll do my best to answer all your questions" I say kindly, pointing to a man to start with.

_2:00 AM_

**Bruce Wayne/Batman**

As I drove back into the Batcave, I cast a glare at the two teenage side-kicks who had made me wait 20 minutes before returning to the batmobile. "You two, we're gonna have a very serious talk tomorrow about the stunt that was pulled tonight" I say sternly, causing the two to shrink back into the seats. Getting out of the car, they cast their heads down in shame. "But Annie-" I begin, the girl turning her head to face me. "-I' am proud that you handled it so well" I continue with a smile, this in turn made her smile too. "Doesn't mean you are off the hook, we have things to discuss Annie" I say, my finishing statement quite firm.

"Yes sir" Annie agrees solemnly.

"Good, now its time for Tim to go to bed, so go get ready kid" I continue, smiling as Tim saluted and rushed up to the mansion.

"Annie, a word with you before you go curl up with him" I say, stopping her before she can bound up the stairs.

"Oh, now?" she says sadly.

"Yes now; Annie, that was very risky what you did, I know it wasn't any danger to your life, it's the secret of our identities, you just barreled out of the Batcave in that wheel form didn't you?" I begin, hoping she'd pick up on the mistakes she'd made.

"Oh shit! I didn't even check to make sure that there wasn't anyone around on the road to Gotham, that's where I goofed didn't I?" she asks nervously.

"That…and the fact that you kept your human face when you were in wheel form, luckily the cameras weren't aimed at us while you had that form in use" I say with an upset tone, noting her apologetic face when she looked back at me.

"I'm sorry, I know I goofed, I won't go out on missions again unless you say its ok Bruce" she replies sadly, obviously thinking that I'd cut into her time with Robin. Remembering how well they'd worked together in the field, I sighed, realizing I couldn't keep her away from crime fighting for the rest of her life, especially considering I had no idea how long she'd live for.

"If you can pass a training course this weekend, I'll let you go back with us on patrol Saturday night" I say defeatedly, promptly earning a very strong hug from the gooey girl.

"Thank you Bruce!" she gushes happily, skipping up the stairs as she changes back to her more solid human form.

"I take it things went well Master Bruce?" Alfred says as he grabs a towel and begins to wipe the gunk off my outfit.

"To be honest, she likely insured neither of us got grievously injured; I hate to think of what might have happened if she hadn't shown up when she did, I was worried I'd have to call Superman, and you know how much I hate to have to hear him nag about getting in over my head. But Annie could have botched things, she has no training" I sigh, earning a humph from Alfred.

"You're being too hard on her Bruce, the girl has natural talent, I saw her on television" he says in his usual monotonous tone.

"Wait, I thought the interviews weren't done till after we had apprehended Bane" I remark with confusion.

"They said it was a special late night edition, and they will be re-running it in the morning" Alfred says with a smile.

"I need to see how much those cameras captured, if any sensitive stuff was captured it could-"

"Relax Dark Knight, I looked closely, nothing unscrupulous or secret was captured, your secrets remain safe" Alfred interrupts, dusting my cowl of debris cheerfully.

"But it could have been a disaster, that's why she needs training, you know that" I argue.

"I'm not disagreeing with you there, but this is what drove Dick away, you never showed any appreciation, it was always criticism, if you do that again you'll drive away Annie and Tim too" Alfred points out, causing my scowl to soften as I sigh.

"You're right, I'm trying to learn how to be more constructive, its just hard, I've been so cold for so many years, Its gonna take time to loosen up" I say worriedly.

"Well be glad you caught this in time sir, before another Nightwing incident happened" he says with a smile of approval, showing he was proud of my character growth over the past few days. As I walked to my bedroom, I smiled, knowing Annie was gonna curl up with Tim as he slept, glad that they had each other.

**Tim Drake/Robin**

As I finished with my quick shower, I came out to my room and found that Annie was in my bed, acting shy as usual, but this time…her outfit was that of a very thin, white nightie.

"Hey Tim" she says nervously, her body almost completely on display for me, causing me to gulp.

"Uh, your outfit…wow" I stammer dryly, causing her to look at me funnily.

"Am I using it wrong? I read it was for sleeping in, so one feels more comfortable" she says with concern.

"NO! Its just, I mean, you're not needing to change your clothes for comfort, they're a part of your body; you could give yourself a fur coat and not feel hot cause that's your own form making the outfit, and…well its kind of distracting" I mumble, hoping the towels would hide my unwanted arousal. I couldn't think about her like that yet, it was too soon, It could ruin everything!

"What is?" she asks innocently, causing me my rebellious genitals to react even more fiercely.

"That outfit you're wearing, it…uh" I say with a light blush. However as she sniffed the air, she created an artificial blush in her cheeks too.

"OH…I see, my current form makes you attracted to me even more" she says nervously.

"Yes, it does" I reply sadly, unsure of how she'd react to the information she'd picked up on.

"Then do you want me?" she states, causing me to nearly cough up my lungs in shock.

"(Wheeze) Gack…I…uh…what?" I yell with amazement. Holy shit! Here we were, just barely in a relationship, and if my ears weren't beginning to fail me, I could have sworn she just…no way, she must mean something else.

"Do you want me Tim? Your pheromones are telling me you do" she states as the nightie dissolves into her skin, revealing her in a naked form.

"AAAHHH! Annie please, put your clothes back on!" I scream as I turn my head to try and not stare at the tempting visage laid upon my bed, I didn't want to ruin things by jumping into the bed with my new girlfriend this soon.

"Oh…I see, I understand, I guess when a girl is made of sludge it kinda makes the idea of sex seem a bit unnerving or even gross, I don't blame you Tim, my body is repulsive like that.

I quickly realized she thought I didn't find her attractive in that way, I had to make sure she didn't think I was against any part of her before her feelings were hurt. So I turned to look at her face and smiled.

"No no no! That's not it Annie, I think you're beautiful, you ooze sexuality-no pun intended, and as much as I would love to have you right this very moment, and damn it I want it bad…I can't" I reply reassuringly, causing her to recreate the outfit we'd met in, clothing herself.

"Then why do you resist what you want? I gladly offer myself to you Tim, I'll do anything to make you happy" she says as she walks up and stands in front of me. I promptly gulped as my erection increased even more beneath my towels.

"Am I not pretty enough?" she asks as her body begins to change into that of Barbara's, but with much bigger breasts.

"(Stammering) I…djiii…guh…whoa, lots of pretty" I blabber as I lose the ability to make coherent words for a moment.

"I can fulfill just about any fantasies or desires you want Tim, just tell me what so I can make you as happy as you've made me" she replies, still using her own voice. DAMN! Why did she have to be so attractive? It was taking all my will just to keep myself from starting on her right where we stood! I had to help her understand my reasoning behind waiting.

"Annie, please, resume your original form and listen, I have to explain why we can't do this, not yet" I pant as I grab her shoulders, causing her to frown and shrink back to her normal body.

"Tim, isn't this what you want? Your pheromones are telling me you want this badly, why are you trying to deny what you know you want?" she pleads, her tone showing how desperate she was for an answer.

"Annie, its not what I want right now, he wants it right now" I begin as I point to my crotch, causing her to blush.

"But that's a part of you, so wouldn't that mean you want it too?" she asks curiously.

"Well the fact is, despite logic, somehow, these things have a mind of their own sometimes, I blame instinct. But the fact is, sometimes these things react without our consent. But more importantly, is this really what you want Annie?" I say as I stroke her cheek.

"What do you mean Tim?" she replies worriedly.

"One of the leading causes for a relationship to end prematurely or be ruined completely, is because the couple was too quick to have sex. Sex isn't just a physical thing, its also mental; aside from a lot of chemicals and hormones, emotions and feelings play an even bigger role. When a person has sex, it makes them very vulnerable emotionally, I mean, they're not just connected to their partner physically, but it also connects them emotionally too in a way, and unlike the physical aspect of sex, emotions don't just detach the way the genitals do once its all over, the feelings are extremely powerful and long lasting, and it can often lead to conflicting thoughts and/or emotions later on after the event, sometimes days or weeks after. So having sex isn't something people should tread lightly on if they are in a serious commitment, both of them have to be absolutely sure that its what they each want, otherwise, it could be a disaster for their relationship. So please be honest Annie, is this really what you want deep down, or are you just trying to show me how grateful you are for me being so nice and caring, despite the fact that you're really unsure of whether you truly want to do it or not?" I explain, hoping she'd not be upset or disappointed.

However, her silent sobbing and subsequent hug quickly told me she wasn't sad.

"Tim…you're the epitome of a good boyfriend, I can't even begin to tell you how much that means, that you really care about my well being so much that you'd deny your greatest desires and give me the choice, it means so very much" she sobs, smiling the whole time. I gladly hugged her back and rubbed my fingers through her soft hair.

"I love you Annie, why wouldn't I treat you like this? You deserve the kindness you were denied for so long" I say as I hold her tight.

"Do you…want me to sleep in the living room tonight so I won't be tempting?" she says as she looks away from me. I almost cried at how caring she was of my predicament, and how much she was willing to sacrifice, but I knew I couldn't let her sleep alone, it was just too risky given her fragile emotional state.

"Annie, you don't have to worry about that, I can control myself, I could never make you sleep alone, especially since I know how much it means for you to be near me" I say as I take her chin in my hand and turn her gaze back to mine, and smile.

"You're sure?" she asks with a subtle tone of worry in her voice.

"Positive, just let me go to the bathroom to change, and use it, I've had to go for over an hour" I say as I jump up, grabbing a my pajamas and heading for my lavatory to relieve myself, in more ways than one.

_2:15 AM_

**Annie**

It had been 10 minutes since he went in there, I hoped he'd be out soon so I could curl up with him as he slept. Then, the toilet flushed and Tim walked out in a navy blue bathrobe. "Hey, sorry I took so long Annie" he says as he walks over to the bed and lays down.

"Its ok, I understand that bodily functions can be time consuming, no need to apologize" I reply happily as I curl up next to him.

"Thanks, (Yawn) you know, even with Bane trying to kill us, this has still been the best day ever for me so far" Tim says with a smile as he closes his eyes.

"I agree, and maybe Bruce can be the father figure I've needed that Clayface can't be, we'll just see how well he takes to me" I say as I stroke Tim's hair.

"Don't worry, I think you helped him realize how its ok to let go and move on, thanks a lot Annie" Tim says drowsily, as the fatigue from the day and late night battle begins to set in.

"You're welcome Tim, now rest, we'll figure out stuff for tomorrow" I say as I kiss him on the lips goodnight.

"Ok" Tim says as he drifts into a snore-free slumber in my arms. I quickly coiled around him, enjoying his warmth and the closeness of his soft skin. If I'd been told a year ago that I'd eventually get free from Clayface and be sleeping with Robin in the same bed, I'd have laughed. But I knew that Tim was one in a million, and I would treat him as such, with all the lavishing devotion and care and love he could ever want. As I waited to lose consciousness, I desperately wished I could dream, so I could have a wonderful one of a great date that I could use as the blueprints for a potential real outing in the future. Wrapping my arms gently around his waist, I held on tightly, just to make sure that when I woke up I wouldn't be alone again.


	14. Chapter 14 Initiate Training Sequence!

Batman The Animated Series-Annie Come Home

**Chapter 14: Initiate Training Sequence!**

**Alfred Pennyworth**

Things had been rather slow since Saturday night. The week had passed relatively uneventful, with Batman and Robin going out for patrol each night, and only a few average criminals were apprehended who had grown bold thinking Batman would be busy hunting down the escaped inmates of Arkham. Every night when Annie was forced to stay behind, she would ask me to help her find books to read and assimilate information from to satisfy her ever growing hunger for knowledge. After just 5 days, she had read every book in the house, even the cook books. Now it was Friday afternoon, and Annie had begun to bake her first dish, a Strawberry Peach Cobbler.

"3…2…1…its finished!" Annie shouts happily as she pulls out the freshly baked dessert.

"(Sniff sniff) It smells delightly Ms. Annie, I think you'll make an excellent cook" I say cheerfully.

"Yeah, as soon as he's done doing his afternoon exercises, I'll make sure he gets a big slice" she says with a smile.

"Yes, I'm sure he will thoroughly enjoy it. So…would it be ok if I just had a small piece?" I ask as I grab a fork and reach for the dish. However just before I could poke the cobbler, two orange sludge tendrils shot out, one whipping my wrist, the second one taking the fork away before I dropped it.

"OW!" I shout as I recoil from the acute sudden pain and massage my wrist.

"Ah ah ah, Tim gets the first slice, I made it especially for him, then if he wants to share it after the first bite, he can, but no one else gets any till I get the approval from him on how good it is" she scolds me, already sounding like a cook.

"Very well then, I guess I'll just have to wait" I reply as I keep rubbing the spot she tendril whipped at.

"Thank you" she says cheerfully. Moments later, Tim walked into the kitchen, still sweating heavily from his exercise.

"WHOO! What a workout, Bruce sure roughed me up" he says as he wipes his forehead with his towel.

"And I slaved over a hot stove for over a half hour, but I guess that's a bit of a misnomer considering I loved every second of it, I made my first dish for you to taste Tim" she says cheerfully as she grabs the pan.

"Awesome, I'm starving, so what is it?" Tim asks excitedly.

"Strawberry Peach Cobbler" the girl announces as she puts the dish on the table.

"Oooh, I love cobblers, I can't wait to taste it?" Tim drools.

"So why start now?" Annie laughs as she uses 4 arms to grab a plate, get a spatula to cut the cobbler, and the other two to transfer the slice to the plate and grab a fork from the drawer respectively, gracefully pulling herself together after the serving was placed at Tim's spot on the table he sat at.

"Thank you Annie, this looks delicious" Tim remarks as he prepares to dig in.

"I know, I can smell it too, but I need to know if it tastes as good as that, so please, rate my cooking" she says with a smile, eagerly awaiting his mouth to bite into her cobbler. Not bothering to hesitate anymore, he smiled and shoveled a generous portion from his fork to his jaw and began to chew.

"Well, what do you think?" she asks with a hopeful smile.

"Annie…you oughta open a restaurant! What did you put in this? Its absolutely amazing, Alfred you have to try it" Tim shouts excitedly as he tosses me a fork. Instinctively I caught it; I was now glad my secret agent training never wore off.

"To make you this excited, I'm sure it is very good" I say as I sit down and grab a generous size bite on the utensil. Placing it gently on my mouth, my eyes widened and I nearly fell out of my chair from the startling flavors.

"Restaurant, Annie, you should start a franchise, and you could make a fortune to rival the Wayne Enterprise" I say cheerfully, having loved the way the strawberry and peach flavors danced upon my tongue.

"Thank you, I'll consider it, but first I need to learn more about starting a new business, but I've read all the books on the subject, most are outdated by about 40 years, a few only by 20 or so, but I need the most modern materials to have a full understanding of American Economics as they currently are" she replies succinctly, shocking the two of us.

**Annie**

"Annie…you're studying that seriously?" Tim asks with shock. I realized he must feel worried about a power struggle, and I suddenly felt worried.

"I'm so sorry, Its just so amazing and intriguing, and now I have ideas, and…I'm sorry, I'll stop pursuing them if you-"

"No, no! Its wonderful, you're a smart girl, I knew that, but you're actually learning things this fast, and want to start a business? Annie, that's terrific!" Tim shouts gleefully to cut me off as he rushes over and hugs me on the spot, causing my cheeks to begin feeling warm and melty.

"You…you're ok with me empowering myself, getting all smart and maybe having a job of my own?" I ask nervously, remembering what I'd read about history and the topic of women's rights and many men's opposition to them.

"Yeah, I like a girl who can take care of herself, its…sexy" he says with a blush, and I felt some of my cheeks immediately begin running for real.

"My word…Timothy, you're quite the charming and noble young man, Master Wayne has rubbed off on you far more positively than I thought, bravo my good boy" Alfred says with a smile as he gives a congratulatory clapping session.

"Thank you Mr. Pennyworth, for my next trick, I shall make Annie blush wildly" he says suavely, suddenly snapping to my side and dipping me deeply like in a ballroom dance, and he accomplished the brazen claim he'd made with ease, as my cheeks once again began melting, now at a noticeable level.

"Why Tim…are you always this smooth with the girls?" I giggle as I wrap my arms around his neck.

"Only if "the girls" means you Annie" he says slyly, making me giggle more, my budding personality having become enthralled with his many quirks and joking nature that always charmed the hell out of me, I simply had no control, he could always make me become so flustered and tipsy just by looking at me. It was his eyes, those dark black eyes that just stared straight into mine every time he held me, it always made me feel lighter than air. Leaning in to kiss him, I prepared for his lips to touch mine with our deepest emotions.

"Annie! Its time" Bruce's voice shouts, breaking the magic like glass and ruining the moment.

"Oh Bruce, you just totally derailed my love train! Did you have to pick now, of all times to call Annie in for her training course?" Tim chastises with an irritated tone.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you had other plans" the Dark Knight replies with a grin.

"Dude, you know we're dating, and we're just getting closer and more attached by the day; I think you did that on purpose, you must have some extra sense from all that training across the world that lets you know when people you're close to are getting close or something, or you spied on us like our first date" Tim argues, making me laugh softly.

I'd been unable to fully comprehend it until several days and thousands of books later after I snuck out of the house to the local library in Gotham, but Bruce's behavior was that of a typical, overprotective parent; while he truly loved Drake as a son, he was suffocating him in a negative way, despite how much he wishes to do the right thing. It amused me how parents could love a child, adopted, or of their own seed, to the point it became counterproductive to the child's well-being, despite how much they cherish them and wish to avoid doing the wrong things or prevent harm to their own.

"Well, anyways, lets go, the training room is all ready" Bruce continues, snapping me out of my inward dissertation and driving me to propel my feet in accordance to the path Bruce was leading me at. Upon reaching the antique clock, and opening the pathway to the bat cave, we reached an area I'd yet to see, and was surprised to find it was a nearly self-contained, walled, and well lit, quite unlike the rest of the open cave and its dark, dank, atmosphere.

"This is the training course, with Z-8 hard-light robots, customizable for virtually any combat simulation, and easily suites my needs; you will face a more crafty villain for your first simulation, but still not of a high threat level, this is to assess your current prowess and see if any areas of your fighting style or execution of actions need addressing on a rudimentary level, are you ready?" Bruce explains, asking the ever important question at the end of his speech.

"Yes, who will I be facing?" I ask inquisitively, wondering which of Batman's Rogue Gallery I'd be facing.

"You'll see, I had to learn on the fly about how to fight my foes, so shall you, so be prepared" he replies teasingly, yet also with seriousness in his tone. After pushing a few buttons, plates in the floor begin to open up and flying out of the hole appears a girl.

"Is she…riding a rocket?" I remark, trying to wrap my head around her theme.

"Roxanne Sutton, aka Roxy Rocket; she was once a stunt woman, but her obsession with thrill-seeking drove her to crimes of grand theft, other than that though, she's not much of a villain, just very selfish" Bruce replies concisely.

"So only try to disarm her?" I remark, unsure of how to treat a female criminal during a fight.

"Exactly, but to do that, you'll have to catch me" Roxy laughs as she suddenly begins to speak, pulling a lever on her rocket as she begins to shoot off toward another part of the cave at jet propulsive speeds. Turning into my wheel form, I pursue her until I reach a ledge, no direct path leading me to her destination she was flying toward. Frustrated I lamented my issue with combating criminals who could fly, as I currently was unable to do that. However, as I looked back at the ceiling, I noticed a few bats leaping off the stalactites above, and got a brilliant idea.

Extending one of my arms toward the rocky ceiling, I followed by enlarging the hand and grasping the protrusion and gluing myself to it. Upon testing its stability, I created a grappling effect and almost instantly shoot up to where I had my arm and smiled, as I now had a way to go after Roxy. Shooting my hand to another nearby stalactite, I begin to swing my way across the ceiling and moments after I began chain linking between the spikes, I leapt down onto Roxy's ride and anchored myself to the surface.

"Hey! Get off, you're gonna make it filthy slime bag!" she snaps angrily.

"Sorry Roxy, but its time I mucked up your plans" I retort as I rip off the fuselage cover and then ooze some of my form inside, instantly short circuiting the systems and making the thrust drop to zero.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO! MY RIDE!" Roxanne hollers as she stubbornly holds onto the handle bars. Grabbing her with my one hand, I shoot my other arm back to the ceiling quickly and then glue her to my chest and use my brachiating technique to return back to the enclosed area and drop her down in a puddle of my body to keep her restrained.

"Forty Five Seconds…that's a new record Annie, I'm very impressed, even I haven't been able to catch her that quickly due to her speed" Bruce states with a start as he looks away from the timer clock.

"Really? Wow, thank you" I reply, amazed that I had actually outperformed Batman in an area; this was a real boost to my confidence.

"Well then, now that you've shown you are adaptive enough to pursue aerial foes, lets try something a little more unconventional" he replies as the enclosure changes and the background changes to a bank with the alarm ringing, a man in a ski mask running out the entrance with a bag of money and a pistol.

Just before I could chase after him though, I hear a little girl bawling and turn to see her running toward me holding her arm where blood drips down it.

"Oh no, what's wrong little one?" I remark as I drop all thoughts of chasing the bad guy and pick her up to examine the limping right arm, making her hug me tightly with the other limb.

"The man, he's a bad man, he came in da bank, and he started ta shoot the whole place up so he'd get money, me got shot too!" she bawls as she holds on tighter.

"Where, where did he shoot you?" I pry, having been unable to find the entry wound of a bullet on her left arm, just a small cut.

"(Sniffle) Right…here!" she laughs, as she suddenly pulls out a suction dart gun and shoots me with the toy, but before I could chastise her for playing a prank, I noticed the wires attached to the gun and was unable to react quickly enough before the girl pulled the trigger again and I was flooded with electricity right in my face, dropping onto my knees as I lost my grip on her and fall over after the energy proves to be too great to channel in my current state. While nowhere near as powerful as the being Livewire's electrical surge, it still had enough juice to stun me and lose my grip on the girl, who I now saw was running off in the direction of the man shouting, "Wait for me Vinny!"

I could hardly believe how gullible I was, this was so embarrassing, tricked by a pint sized child criminal!

"Marion Louise Dahl, aka Baby Doll; she's not a child, but an adult in her 30s with a genetic hormonal defect called systemic hypoplasia, that meant she was never able to grow up into a woman, stuck like that for the rest of her natural life with regards to current science, she's a spoiled brat but also very calculating and manipulative, as you just saw" Bruce replies from the control panel. Groaning, my cells still reeling from the current, I finally manage to make myself cohesive and walk over to the dark knight.

"You're doing very well so far, I think you'll easily pass this course by the end of the weekend" he replies with a smile, helping boost my confidence once more.

"Alright, we'll try Baby Doll again later, now lets see how you do against the person who would likely be your worst, and _coldest_ foe" he replies with emphasis on the temperature. As the floor opened up again, there was a hissing sound, and I prepared for whoever or whatever I was about to face.

Before I could blink however, there was a zapping sound and an instant later I found myself immobilized and unable to even shape shift below my neck.

"super chill anything, and you'll be close to matching how cold my heart is" a broadcast voice yells from a black and blue exo-suit. Before I could protest however, the being fired his gun again and I felt the rest of my body lose mobility, my mind slowly blacking out as the deep freeze begins to penetrate deep into my cells and quickly lock-up my brain activity. After several minutes, I at last began to fully lose consciousness and hoped that I wasn't going to die.

I couldn't die now…Tim needs me, and I need him even more. Then, I stopped thinking, and everything got icy.

_9:00 PM_

**Tim Drake/Robin**

"Bruce, did you have to put her up against the Mr. Freeze sequence? Damn it, she could have been killed" I shout as I keep aiming the heated fan around my still frozen girlfriend.

"He could still be around, and possibly have even more powerful cryogenic weapons Tim, she needs to be prepared, and its highly unlikely that she'd have died, she can regenerate her cells rapidly you know" he replies back nonchalantly.

"She better pull through or so help me Bruce, I will-"

"Master Tim please! This is what Annie wanted, would you really try to stop her from becoming a crime-fighter simply because a villain could injure or kill her? Let alone from training to become properly armed in her future fights" Alfred shouts angrily. His words got to me though and I sighed, hoping Annie had not heard all this talk Bruce and I had done for the past four hours since she had been frozen solid.

"You're right, I'm sorry Bruce, Its just…I love her, so much, the thought of losing her-"

"You do not have to tell me Tim…I know that pain more than you think" he replies stoically as he aims the other fan at her. At least now she was almost fully thawed, the remaining ice would be done melting within the next half hour, I could already make out her body in near perfect detail, her shape being that of the battle form she had adopted during the fight with Bane last weekend. I hoped with all my heart, that she was not gone, I couldn't bear that if it turned out to be true.

"Master Bruce, shall I fetch some tea for when she wakes up?" Alfred asks cheerfully.

"Yes, make it lemon honey Chai Tea, we want to stay alert so we can keep an eye on her" Bruce replies softly, making me smile. As Alfred left the room, I focused back on de-icing my beloved and hoping for the best.

_11:30 PM_

**Annie**

As I began to regain consciousness, I felt my body was very cold and immediately began to make the cells I could feel vibrate to warm myself. With a quick burst of strength I then reanimated the rest of my cells and began to break free of the ice, falling out of what was left of the icy tomb while I worked on reforming the muscles for my legs. Hearing a gasp, I recognized it as Alfred and saw him rush to my side to help me up.

"My goodness Miss Annie, are you alright?" he asks with panic as he embraces me gently.

"I'm fine, really, where is Tim, he must be worried sick" I reply, the stark realization of how he must have felt while I was in the process of thawing out.

"Tim just went to prepare for sleep barely ten minutes ago, he was so emotionally drained from the endeavor, and he finally couldn't wait, he's nearly done brushing his teeth as we speak" Bruce replies softly as he walks over and puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Annie, I wanted to apologize for being so reckless with you, I'd forgotten how dangerous extremes of hot and cold can be for any life form, if you want to take a break and post-pone the training we can-"

"NO! I'm not hurt at all, my cells are more durable than a person's, I just had to regenerate a few parts, it was nothing, I'll be good to go tomorrow, that is, if Tim will agree to it, if continuing to train would make him worry too much, I'm going to have to stop and just make due with self-training, or even just be a house wife if that's what he thinks is best" I respond, cutting of Bruce mid-sentence and making them both look at me with wide eyes, Alfred still limply holding the power cords for the heating units they had used on me earlier.

"Annie…would you really be ok with that?" Bruce resumes, his tone much softer and worried than before.

"Indeed, Miss Annie, being a housewife is a huge step-down from that desire of running a business; a stay at home bride does not have enough time for such things in the majority of cases" Alfred comments.

"Tim can't make that decision for you, he's only a child, and you need the training so you can help this city, I'll talk to him in the morning and set things straight" Bruce replies firmly, making me frown; he had obviously not understood my meaning as I pull away from his grasp.

"No, I' am making it his choice, he has been through enough as it is! I cannot ask him to keep being stressed and sad every time I put myself in danger if he does not think he can handle such a burden on his mind. That being said, I'm letting him decide, I must…I love him, and he deserves to be the man who does what he thinks is best for his beloved. My apologies gentlemen, but my decision is final, in that it will be up to Tim Drake and Tim Drake alone, whether I continue this path or not, and I'm going to discuss it with him right now before we rest for the night, see you tomorrow" I state, leaving them both stunned and shocked at my speech.

Several minutes later, I entered Tim's quarters and found him sitting on the bed, his head hung low and his tears dripping silently. Standing there without making a single noise for several moments myself, I finally clear my throat to get his attention, causing his head to shoot up in shock.

"Tim, you can stop crying" I reply gently, instantly making him leap over and begin squeezing me in a loving hug.

"ANNIE! Thank goodness, are you alright? Please tell me everything is ok!" he sobs as he buries his head into my shoulder. Gently holding him, I pat his head and smile.

"I'm completely unharmed, I heal quickly from virtually any damage, please stop crying honey" I beg, pulling him off me far enough so I can look him in the face while keeping a human form. Sniffling softly, he nods affirmatively. Leading him over to the bed, I hold his hands and begin to explain in full detail what I had nut shelled for Alfred and Bruce. After I had finished, I saw Tim's face had frozen with shock and awe in a manner similar to the other men and began to worry.

"Tim, please, don't worry about what I want for now, please, I just need to know that you'll be ok, so make your decision, whatever gives you the most comfort" I say as I repeat the concept again gently, squeezing his hands softly as I do and look deeply into his eyes, showing him how much his happiness and peace of mind mean compared to my own. After several intense minutes of silence and Tim showing his face to be in deep thought, he promptly kissed me with crushing passion and made it last for over 200 seconds, breaking it off only to give himself air as he panted.

"Annie, the only thing that could make me happy, is knowing you are, so I refuse to make the choice for you, whether you continue to train and battle criminals, or give it up and focus on just business or whatever else, I will stand by and support your decision, so if you really want to keep fighting crime, along side me every step of the way, I will put up with some stress and fear, so long as it is what will ensure you stay happy my dear Annie" Tim says gently, the romantics of his response making my heart soar with amazement at his kindness. Kissing him back with the same intensity as his kiss before, I forced us down into the bed and curled up tightly.

"Thank you time, that means…everything to me" I say as a tear rolls down my cheek till I reabsorb the cells. Stretching out an arm over to the lamp, I turn the knob and shut it off so he can begin to sleep.

"Good night…I love you Annie" the boy wonder says happily as he kisses my cheek and rests into my body, where I cradle him in a warm embrace.

"And good night to you, my most beloved Tim, thank you for being so good to me" I whisper, letting myself begin to drift off as soon as I finish my sentence, entwined in a chaste, romantic embrace in his bed.


End file.
